Trends in shipping

The shipping industry is known for its innovation and adaptability, particularly in areas such as fuel efficiency, response to geopolitical changes, and compliance with environmental regulations. A proactive approach will help all stakeholders remain competitive in this dynamic environment.

Finnlines’ Commercial Director, Merja Kallio-Mannila shares her insights into recent developments.

Market analysis:

In recent years, the geopolitical situation and sanctions against Russia have increased average transport costs. The weak economic climate has stirred uncertainty, and tighter environmental legislation has raised costs. It will be necessary to make massive investments in newbuildings and existing vessels to achieve the net-zero target by 2050.

Operational review:

In Finland, Finnlines is a major operator, responsible for maintaining the two most important maritime bridges, Finland–Germany and Finland–Sweden, and providing important connections for export industries. During the past few years Finnlines has also expanded its freight operations to connect Ireland and Continental Europe, and freight and passenger services between Sweden and Poland.

By cargo type, carriage of lorries has declined on some routes, but the number of cargo units between Finland and Sweden picked up greatly.

Sustainability:

Tighter environmental legislation requires both operational measures in day-to-day operations and investments in new ships. Finnlines operates one of the youngest fleets in the Baltic Sea. For the time being, Finnlines uses onshore power and batteries on ro-pax ships to replace fossil fuels and batteries and solar energy on some of the freight vessels.

A new generation of ro-pax ships is being designed for the Finland–Germany route. The focus will be on overall sustainability and clean fuels.

We are in the midst of a revolutionary change to replace fossil fuels by renewable energy. International, robust legislation will have to be in place and the transport industry will have to work together as there will be costs we all bear.

Future:

Finnlines considers the current situation to be an opportunity, which means that we will develop more flexible transport services and make better use of digital services, such as business intelligence, extranet, and self-service tools.

With a strong, business-minded owner, the Grimaldi Group, focusing on sustainability, Finnlines is well-positioned to make investments that drive growth.