Tallink Grupp says its subsidiary AS Tallink Latvija has signed a contract with Holland Norway Lines BV for the long-term charter of the company’s vessel Romantika. The charter agreement becomes effective when confirmed by the related financial partners shortly. The vessel, operating under the Latvian flag, will be delivered to the charterer in late March 2022 for three years with an option to extend the agreement for another year and another year after that. Holland Norway Lines plans to operate the vessel on international routes between Norway and the Netherlands.
The vessel has been chartered as a so-called bareboat charter, meaning it will be chartered without crew and technical maintenance from the company.
Before the COVID pandemic the vessel operated on the Riga-Stockholm route, but was chartered out on a short-term charter agreement from July to early October this year to Morocco and has been chartered from 14 October for a month to provide accommodation at Glasgow, Scotland at the COP26 global climate conference. According to current plans, the vessel will return to Tallinn in mid-November, but since the company does not intend to re-open the Riga-Stockholm route at least until spring 2022, the vessel will remain suspended in port in Tallinn until the next charter.
Commenting on the charter, Tallink Grupp’s CEO Paavo Nõgene, said:
„This is the sixth charter agreement we have managed to secure this year for our vessels that are still waiting for travel restrictions to ease and the pandemic situation to improve. Considering there are many vessels idle in ports around the world waiting for work, this is great recognition for us as a company and our fleet. It means our vessels that are in great condition, the right type for transporting both goods and people, efficient and with excellent technical crew, are sought after around the world.
„While the recovery from the pandemic is likely to take a number of years and it is unlikely we will be able to return to pre-COVID routes and schedules in the near future, it is positive that we are able to secure work for our vessels and crew where possible.“
The contract for chartering Romantika is the sixth charter contract for Tallink Grupp in the space of the last six months, with Silja Europa and Romantika both recently being chartered out short-term to provide accommodation at COP26 in Glasgow, Silja Europa being chartered out short-term to the UK for accommodating police officers during the G7 summit in June 2021; and Victoria I and Romantika recently being chartered out short-term to Morocco to operate international routes in the Mediterranean region until October 2021. Additionally, the company’s vessel Superfast IX (in operation during the charter as Atlantic Vision) has been chartered out long-term to Canada as a similar bareboat charter.
The Riga-Stockholm route which is due to re-open in spring 2022, will be operated by the company’s vessel Isabelle.
AS Tallink Grupp is one of the leading providers of passenger and cargo transport services in the northern Baltic Sea region. The company’s fleet consists of 15 vessels and the company operates various routes under the brands of Tallink and Silja Line. Tallink Grupp’s shares are listed on the Nasdaq Tallinn Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Helsinki Stock Exchange.