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Tallink is a leading provider of high-quality mini-cruise and passenger transport services in the Northern Baltic Sea region, as well as a leading provider of ro-ro cargo services on selected routes. Tallink provides passenger and ro-ro cargo transportation on the various routes between Estonia-Sweden, Finland-Estonia, Finland-Germany, Latvia-Sweden and Finland-Sweden. The Group’s fleet consists of 19 vessels. Ten cruise ferries, five high-speed ro-pax ferries, two cargo vessels, one ro-pax ferry and one highspeed ferry is a mixture which allows us to offer a wide range of services and frequent departures.
As a result of our ongoing investment and fleet renewal program, we currently deploy some of the most advanced cruise ferries in the Northern Baltic Sea region. In particular, we believe that our cruise vessels Romantika, Victoria I and the brand new Galaxy, with their state-of-the-art facilities, improved accommodation, larger onboard shopping areas and high quality onboard services, have set a new benchmark for travel standards in the Northern Baltic Sea region.
The new high-speed ro-pax ferries M/S Star and M/S Superstar are designed to combine the best features of a traditional cruise ferry, cargo vessel and a high-speed ferry so that they can be operated year-round at almost the same speed as high-speed ferries but with increased passenger capacity, large car deck, expanded shopping and dining facilities, and other services. Further the Group has ordered the sistership to our newest cruise vessel Galaxy, cruise ferry M/S Baltic Princess, which will be delivered in 2008. The latest order, a cruise ferry with the code name Cruise 5, will be delivered in 2009. In addition to building new vessels, the Group has expanded its fleet through acquisition of vessels from other companies. In April 2006 Tallink acquired three Superfast ferries and in July 2006 Tallink acquired part of Silja's operations including six vessels from Sea Containers.
Altogether we transported nearly 7 million passengers and 360 thousand ro-ro cargo units in the financial year ended in August 2007, an increase of 64% and 91% respectively, compared to the previous financial year. The number of passenger cars carried increased by 45% to nearly 600 thousand. |