Stena Line and the Swedish Transport Administration have signed an agreement to keep Sweden’s only regular rail ferry service running between Trelleborg and Rostock until 31 December 2031, according to Stena Line.
The agreement was signed at the Port of Trelleborg by Elisabeth Lönne, chief commercial officer at Stena Line, and Roberto Maiorana, director-general of the Swedish Transport Administration.
The deal covers the Sweden-Germany rail ferry link operated by Stena Line with the M/S Skåne and M/S Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which have served the route since 1998.
“Stena Line is very pleased that the conditions are now in place for our operation on the Trelleborg-Rostock route to continue. We view our role in the transport system in general, and in the vital rail connection to continental Europe provided by our ferries in particular, with both pride and great responsibility,” Lönne said.
Maiorana said the agreement secures rail ferry services between Sweden and Germany for the years ahead. “Rail ferries have declined significantly over the past 20 years due to weak economic viability. Since the opening of the Öresund Bridge, the majority of freight trains to and from continental Europe have crossed the Öresund link rather than travelling by ferry. However, the ferries remain necessary, which is why the Swedish state, through the Swedish Transport Administration, is now stepping in to secure continued operations,” he said.
The ferries provide a fallback to the Öresund Bridge, Sweden’s only fixed railway connection to continental Europe, and allow freight that cannot use the Öresund route because of weight and width restrictions on Danish and German rail infrastructure.
Germany is Sweden’s largest trading partner. “For many years, this route has formed an important part of Sweden’s exports to and imports from one of our most important trading partners, Germany, where the ability to transport freight by rail plays a crucial role,” Lönne said.
Stena Line is a family-owned ferry company founded in 1962 and headquartered in Gothenburg. It operates about 40 vessels on 19 routes in Northern Europe and the Mediterranean, with around 34,700 sailings a year, 6,550 employees and annual turnover of SEK 19.6bn ($2.1bn).
The Swedish Transport Administration, Trafikverket, is a Swedish state authority responsible for long-term transport infrastructure planning and for managing state road and rail networks.