Tallink Grupp has notified the Estonian and Latvian Seamen’s Unions as well as the local Unemployment Insurance Funds that the company will be optimising the crew numbers in both countries due to the long-term, charter of its vessels Star and Isabelle and is commencing collective redundancy negotiations in both countries this week, according to the company's release.
Since the vessels Star and Isabelle will both be chartered out for several years as bareboat charters (i.e. without any Tallink crew) and several of the company’s vessels are already chartered out, the company does not currently anticipate being able to offer the same level of work to all its current employees in the near future.
The collective redundancy process in Estonia will mostly affect service personnel, whereas in Latvia it will affect both service and technical personnel. In total, Tallink Grupp notified of the possible collective redundancy of 400 crew members in the company’s Estonian subsidiary Hansaliin OÜ and 100 crew members of the company’s Latvian subsidiary Tallink Latvija. The final number of crew members who will be made redundant will be clear by the end of the process, but the number will most likely be smaller than the number of people being notified of the collective redundancy intention today.
The collective redundancy process starts this week and will be completed in early autumn this year. Tallink Grupp is prepared to make any changes to the process if needed, depending on any changes to the current charter agreements. In addition to the collective redundancy process in the group’s subsidiaries Tallink Latvija and Hansaliin OÜ, the company has already started a redundancy process in the company’s subsidiary HT Laevateenindus, affecting around 20 technical personnel on Estonian-flagged vessels.
Out of Tallink Grupp’s 15 vessels, 7 are currently chartered out with medium and long-term charter contracts:
• Superfast IX to Canada
• Romantika to Holland (operating on the Holland-Norway route)
• Victoria I to Scotland
• Silja Europa to Holland
• Galaxy to Holland
• Isabelle to Estonia
• Star will be chartered to Ireland from 5 May 2023
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.