Tom Pippingsköld, President and CEO, in conjunction with the review, “The Finnlines Group’s revenue in January–September 2022 amounted to EUR 558.4 million, an increase of 31 per cent compared to the corresponding period in 2021. The result for the reporting period was EUR 105.2 million – an increase of 52 per cent compared to EUR 69.0 million in January–September 2021. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, EBITDA, amounted to EUR 169.2 (121.2 in 2021) million. Our financial performance has improved regardless of the fact that consumer and business confidence has been hit by the war in Ukraine, accelerating inflation and soaring energy costs.

Considering the economic instability, freight volumes have been fairly good during the first three quarters of 2022, Finnlines transported 572,000 cargo units, shipped 99,000 cars and carried 514,000 private and commercial passengers. Together with its customers, Finnlines supports the competitiveness and economic growth of Finland and of the entire Baltic Sea region.

During the summer of 2022, Finnlines introduced three new Eco-class hybrid ro-ro vessels, part of our EUR 500 million Green Investment Programme, which operate on the route Bilbao–Zeebrugge/Antwerp–Travemünde–Helsinki/Kotka. The three giant vessels with state-of-the-art technology do not only offer economies of scale to customers, but the environmental footprint will also be reduced.

We invest in new vessels and bring more capacity to the Baltic Sea, Biscay traffic and Ireland traffic. In July, Finnlines launched a new freight route between Rosslare, Ireland, and Zeebrugge, Belgium, providing an important link between Ireland and rest of Europe. This line was highly welcomed by the market and, therefore, a smaller ro-ro vessel was quickly replaced by a larger vessel with nearly 4,200 lane metres for cargo.

Our ongoing EUR 500 million investment programme includes two Superstar ro-pax vessels in addition to the three hybrid ro-ro vessels already in service. The first vessel, Finnsirius, was launched in August and the keel laying of the second one, Finncanopus, was celebrated in September. The Finnsirius and Finncanopus, will significantly enhance the passenger experience. Both vessels will have capacity to carry 1,100 passengers, which is about twice the capacity of the existing ro-pax vessels on the route. The cargo capacity will increase from just over 4,000 lane metres in the current vessels to 5,200 lane metres. The new vessels will start operating on the Naantali–Långnäs–Kapellskär route in autumn 2023.

Finnlines will continue to expand its services by increasing freight capacity and improving its network for customers – more efficiently, more reliably and in a more sustainable way.”