ESTONIA. Tallink Grupp is to suspend sailings of its Silja Serenade cruise ferry – one of its largest and a key vessel for travel retail sales – against the backdrop of travel restrictions and sluggish demand in Autumn. Other route alterations and ship suspensions will also take effect from September to reflect the slow return to regular activity in the Baltic Sea market.
The company will replace Silja Serenade with the smaller Baltic Queen on the Helsinki-Riga route from 16 September. Serenade’s return to service “will depend on the future developments of the pandemic situation, changes in travel restrictions between the countries and any decisions regarding government support for maritime transport services,” said Tallink.
The new plan means that the recently reopened Tallinn-Stockholm route as well as the Riga-Stockholm route will be operated with the Victoria I from 6 September.
The company will also suspend the operations of its vessel Isabelle from 1 September and Romantika from early October until 31 March 2021 or until further notice from the company. The Silja Symphony will be suspended from regular traffic from early October.
“We are forced to make this vessel change on the Helsinki-Riga route as it is not economically viable to continue to operate this route with a vessel the size of Silja Serenade, now that the high season is over and passenger numbers for the autumn-winter season ahead are much lower than in the summer,” said Tallink Grupp CEO Paavo Nõgene.
“The current passenger numbers forecast for the route indicates we will be able to effectively operate the route with a smaller vessel, still ensuring more than adequate social distancing opportunities for everyone on board,” Nõgene said.
“We regret having to make this decision, particularly as it means that we will have to suspend the operations of Silja Serenade for the time being and commence lay-off proceedings with the vessel’s crew in Finland. There is no economically viable route for us to operate with a vessel this size in the current travel restrictions situation and no government support for its operations,” Nõgene added.
Tallink Grupp’s vessels operating on the Tallinn-Helsinki, Muuga-Vuosaari, Paldiski-Kapellskär, Turku-Stockholm routes currently continue as normal.
