Wasaline makes strong recovery despite the pandemic

24. February 2022

A challenging year greatly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and travel restrictions.

Over the past year, travel has been affected by entry restrictions. After the third quarter, the passenger volume increased thanks to the Covid-19 passport and the rising vaccination rate, allowing people to enter Finland without quarantine. Aurora Botnia started operations in August at the same time as travel restrictions where lifted, giving rise to new passenger records each month.

The turnover increased by 56.8%. The passenger turnover increased by 89.7%, and the passenger volume by 87.5%. The cargo traffic turnover increased by 28.5%. Cargo units increased by 25.3%. Since Aurora Botnia was taken into operation on 28 August, the departure frequency increased by 39%.

The result before year-end appropriations and taxes was +628,392 Euro (2020, -726,893 Euro).

During the financial year, Aurora Botnia – one of the most environmentally friendly passenger ferries in the world – was delivered and taken into operation. The ferry was constructed by the Finnish shipyard Rauma Marine Construction (RMC). Since the order for Aurora Botnia was placed, the price of LNG has increased by sixfold, which means the fuel costs has risen enormously. Repeated delays of the completion of the ferry also affected the economy and volumes negatively.

2022 started with comprehensive travel restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which meant that the passenger traffic drew to a halt. The pandemic is likely to affect the passenger volume until the second quarter of 2022. The energy prices are also expected to remain high during 2022. Wasaline continues a strict cost control and adapts the timetable in order to minimize the energy consumption.

“It was a challenging year affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the construction and completion of the new-build Aurora Botnia was underway. Since launch of the Aurora Botnia, Wasaline has broken new passenger and cargo records each month. The new timetable with more frequent departures has been well received by both passenger and cargo customers. Our cargo customers have shown great loyalty throughout the year and contributed to a successful year of growth. Despite all challenges, our personnel has shown its strength through unity and efficiency, which has made this a satisfactory year. We managed to turn the deficit of the previous year into a year of profit,” says Peter Ståhlberg, Managing Director of Wasaline.

 

TRAFFIC STATISTICS

Departures	816	990
Passengers	57 415	107 659
Passenger vehicles	14 532	24 590
Cargo units	16 969	21 259

KEY NUMBERS
(1000 €)	2020	2021

 

Turnover	10 494	16 433
Operating result	-745	686
Operating result %	neg	4,2%
Equity ratio	81,61 %	73,38

 

 

 For further information:

Peter Ståhlberg, Managing Director, peter.stahlberg@wasaline.com, phone: +358 40 559 2353

 

Wasaline is the northernmost shipping company that transports passengers and cargo daily between Vaasa, Finland and Umeå, Sweden. Wasaline’s new vessel, Aurora Botnia, is the most environmentally friendly passenger ferry in the world. For more information: www.wasaline.com