The Port of Tallinn says shipping company DFDS started cooperation with Eckerö Line on the Muuga-Vuosaari route to optimize its ferry service on the Baltic Sea. Starting from May 4th, 2020, DFDS offers its customers cargo services on Eckerö Line’s ship m/s Finbo Cargo, which started operating again between Helsinki and Tallinn at the beginning of April 2020.
Port of Tallinn’s CCO Margus Vihman welcomes DFDS’s decision to improve the efficiency of cargo transport between Estonia and Finland. “The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the manufacturing and service sector has also affected logistics. In today’s difficult situation, shipping companies are looking for the best solutions to meet their customers’ needs. As a port, we are pleased that thanks to the cooperation between DFDS and Eckerö Line the number of vehicles passing through our ports will increase.”
„In the current emergency situation, where the transport sector has been severely challenged by the pandemic and the economic slowdown, the agreement with Eckerö Line will allow us to use ships’ capacity more wisely, from which our customers will also benefit as they can continue to book their trips with DFDS under DFDS’s travel conditions,” said DFDS’s Estonia-Finland Route Director Peeter Ojasaar.
“In practice, the agreement means that DFDS leases cargo capacity from us and sells it to its own customers. The cooperation guarantees Finbo Cargo’s high occupancy rate and improves significantly the profitability of the route,” added Taru Keronen, the CEO of Eckerö Line.
MS Finbo Cargo, which belongs to Eckerö Line, operates two round trips a day between Estonia and Finland. Due to the Covid-19 restrictions, Finbo Cargo currently operates on the Tallinn-Vuosaari route, but after opening the borders will return to the Muuga-Vuosaari route.
DFDS is one of Europe’s largest maritime transport and logistics companies that operates 56 vessels on 21 routes in the Baltic, North and Mediterranean Seas as well as the English Channel.
Eckerö Line Ab Oy (founded in Finland in 1994) is a shipping company that provides regularly scheduled travel and cargo services between Tallinn and Helsinki and belongs to the Eckerö Group, founded in 1961. Eckerö Line’s vessels m/s Finlandia and Finbo Cargo are the only vessels operating under the Finnish flag between Helsinki and Tallinn.