Silja Line’s annual passenger figures fall by nearly 400,000

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In the last 12 months Tallink Silja’s passenger volumes on the company’s routes to Sweden have fallen by 370,000 passengers.
      This corresponds to ten percent of the number of passengers Silja Line carried on the route during the preceding 12-month period.
      The missing passengers would have filled a Serenade-class Silja vessel to capacity on 130 journeys to Sweden.
     
Also for Silja Line the ended summer season was appreciably weaker than the one before. Between June and August this year the company had 110,000 fewer passengers than during the same period in 2007.
      This represents a drop of just under 13 per cent, when the total passenger figure on routes to Stockholm fell by five per cent.
      The Silja figures indicate that the Estonian Tallink still has great difficulties with the Finnish company it took possession of in the summer of 2006.
      In all there were 90,000 fewer travellers sailing to or from Sweden via Finland’s main land ports compared with the previous season.
      In fact, the total number of passengers dropped below the two-million mark. The roughly 2% annual decrease in passenger figures that has pestered the ferry traffic to Sweden for years now also continued in year-on-year figures.
     
The market winner in the ferry traffic business to Sweden is Viking Line, the passenger figures of which increased by 15,000 on the company’s routes from Turku and Helsinki to Sweden, compared with June-August 2007.
      In the total number of summer passengers Viking Line went past Silja Line.
      The success of Viking Line’s red-and-white vessels was crowned on the Mariehamn-Kapelskär route, where nearly 300,000 travellers used Viking Line ships. This translates to a more than 50% increase from the previous peak season.
      The cruise line sold the small Ålandsfärjan and replaced it with the larger Rosella vessel from the Estonian routes.
     
On the Gulf of Finland the polarisation of the market is becoming more and more obvious.
      Large shipping companies Tallink and Viking Line continue to grow stronger, whereas smaller operators lose both passengers and market shares.
      This year’s pie to be shared was larger than usual, for in June-August there were 160,000 or 8% more passengers on the routes to Estonia than in 2007.
      Then again, one must remember that the 2007 statue row between Estonia and Russia inconvenienced the ferry traffic to a certain extent that summer.
      Even in the Gulf of Finland the top dog was Viking Line, which carried 181,000 more passengers during the peak season compared with the year before. This translates to a growth rate of no less than 60 per cent.
     
On the routes to Estonia the market leader is still Tallink, which also strengthened its position somewhat.
      Both cruise lines also introduced a new large and fast vessel on the route.
      Last summer’s surprise was Eckerö Line: with a traditional car ferry concept it even managed to increase its popularity.
      In all, 6.2 million crossings to Estonia were made in a 12-month period. This translates to a growth rate of just under seven per cent.
      For the small, fast-service operators the summer was lousy: they experienced losses in terms of passenger figures as well as in market share.
     
The high oil price undoubtedly ate into the profits, while severe competition kept ticket prices low and ate into margins.
      If the price of fuel does not come down, Nordic Jet Line’s catamarans may no longer be seen on the Gulf of Finland next spring.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Tallink to become leading shipping company in Baltic Sea area (13.6.2006)

See also:
  Number of cruises to Estonia shows substantial growth (10.4.2008)

Links:
  Tallink Silja (Wikipedia)

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