Stena Line's route between Nynäshamn and Ventspils has had a very positive development since it was taken over from Scandlines a couple of years ago, and the demand continues to increase. This year alone, freight volumes have increased by 23 percent and the number of passengers and cars with about as much. Now the sailing schedule is expanded with the help of M/S Ask and M/S Urd operating Travemünde-Liepaja, the company said in its media release.
Today Scottish Viking and Stena Flavia are operating Nynäshamn-Ventspils. With M/S Ask and M/S Urd timetable will be extended from 6 to 8 sailings a week, and apart from Ventspils also Liepaja will be operated once a week.
Tony Michaelsen, Route Director for Region Baltics commented: "Of course it is very pleasing that the route has had such good development. Now we are focusing on and can increase traffic with additional sailings at attractive departure times, with the help of our two ships normally operating Germany-Latvia. It will be a natural complement where we can adjust our operations to market demand."
"This is a strategically important route for us that we think will continue to grow. Our goal is that the route eventually will be served by two identical sister ships with fully developed facilities for both freight and passengers. It has proven to be our success strategy on other routes," added Tony Michaelsen.
The change will take effect as of October 19.
Stena Line, an ABTA member, is an international transport and travel service company and one of the world's leading ferry operators. Stena Line operates in three business areas: Scandinavia, the North Sea and the Irish Sea with a network of 23 strategically located ferry routes in Europe. Stena Line has a modern fleet of 39 vessels including fast ferries (Stena HSS), traditional combi–ferries, RoPax ferries for freight and passengers, and pure cargo ships. During 2011, approximately 14.7 million passengers travelled with Stena Line. 3.1 million cars and 1.6 million freight units were transported during the same period.