Finnlines Plc starts employee co-operation negotiations concerning the crew of MS Finnsailor
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Finnlines Plc has today started employer-employee co-operation negotiations concerning MS Finnsailor, the company said in its press release.
Finnlines Plc has chartered (bare boat) MS Finnsailor from its owner Finnlines Belgium N.V., Finnlines Plc’s Belgian subsidiary. The vessel is registered in Finland’s Register of Ships and it is operated by the Finnlines Group in its liner traffic.
Finnlines Group has made initial plans for the existing tonnage’s requirements and use in 2015. These initial plans have indicated that the operative use of MS Finnsailor in Finnlines liner traffic will be clearly unprofitable, taking into account the predominant overcapacity and also the changes in environmental legislation, especially the so-called sulphur directive entering into force on 1 January 2015. According to these initial plans the charter of MS Finnsailor would be ended during January 2015, which would lead to changes in the Register of Ships and the operational area of the vessel.
The realisation of these plans may result in lay-offs or in the termination of employment contracts of the Company’s sea personnel; at most this is estimated to affect 52 persons.
If the plans are realised, then they do not affect the provision of maritime liner services or the service level offered to the customers.
About Finnlines
Finnlines is a leading shipping operator of ro-ro and passenger services in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. The Company is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd and is a part of the Grimaldi Group, one of the world’s largest operators of ro-ro vessels and the largest operator of the Motorways of the Sea in Europe for both passengers and freight. This affiliation enables Finnlines to offer liner services to and from any destination in the Mediterranean, West Africa as well as the Atlantic coast of both North and South America.