The group’s investments in the first quarter of 2023 amounted to EUR 11.5 million and were mostly made into the technical improvements and general upgrades of three of the company’s vessels during the planned dockings in Q1 and green technology upgrades, such as shore power equipment for vessels, energy efficient propellers and much more (investments in Q1 2022 were EUR 8.9 million). 

The company’s revenue from route operations (core business) increased year-on-year, amounting to EUR 124.5 million (EUR 91.4 million in Q1 2022). At the same time, the company’s charter revenue increased more than nine-fold to EUR 30.3 million in Q1 this year, with six of the company’s 15 vessels currently chartered out across the globe (EUR 2.9 million in Q1 2022). With one further ship to be chartered out in early May this year, chartering of the company’s vessels continues to be a growing revenue stream for the group, with a positive impact on the company’s results. 

The company continues to maintain a strong liquidity buffer of EUR 231.5 million, combined in cash and unused credit lines.

Commenting on the first quarter results, Tallink Grupp’s CEO Paavo Nõgene said:

“The result of a marginal loss for our toughest quarter of every financial year is one that we are content with. It shows solid performance. It even looked for a time, based on some initial results of the first two months of the year, that there could be a possibility of reaching break-even or a marginal profit by the end of the quarter, but developments and performance of some business areas ultimately still lead to the result of a marginal loss we have announced today.

“The result shows, though, that across the group, the decisions we have made and the steps we have taken, have been the rights ones, enabling us to continue on the course of recovery. Our newest fleet member MYSTAR is performing well on the Tallinn-Helsinki route, the changes we have made to the schedule and route for BALTIC PRINCESS have resulted in increased passenger numbers and greater customer satisfaction, the Tallinn-Stockholm route with BALTIC QUEEN is seeing a return of historic customer levels and our vessels chartered out across the globe with good long-term contracts are all also performing well.

“The challenge we faced with having three shuttle vessels on the Tallinn-Helsinki route and ensuring profitability of all three of them, has now been resolved with the recent long-term charter contract for our shuttle STAR. Such contracts clearly show that Tallink Grupp’s vessels have proved themselves with a number of our partners across the globe over the years and are hugely sought after for a variety of projects and hires. An example of this, in addition to the recent STAR contract, is also the new long-term charter contract for our vessel ISABELLE, which will be leaving for Canada later this year. It is constantly a fine balance of ensuring we have the most optimal number of vessels continuing operations on our regular routes, and the vessels chartered out for various projects. The charters clearly help reduce low season risks for us financially, but of course also sometimes lead to difficult personnel decisions, such as the ones we have recently had to make due to STAR and ISABELLE being chartered out long term without Tallink crew members.

“With Q1 now having laid a good foundation for the rest of the year, we must focus as a team and build on it. Our busiest season is almost here and our preparations for this are now also nearly finalised with vessel dockings and upgrades in Q1, services and onboard offering renewals and new launches in our restaurants, shops and elsewhere carried out in April and May, and all four of our stunning hotels in Tallinn and Riga now open and waiting for guests. There is absolutely every reason to travel again and travel now.”

AS Tallink Grupp Statistics for April 2023

In April 2023 AS Tallink Grupp transported 478,316 passengers, which is a 2.7% increase compared to April 2022. The number of cargo units decreased by 17.5% to 27,943 units and the number of passenger vehicles increased by 10.8% to 67,701 units in the same comparison.

AS Tallink Grupp passenger, cargo unit and passenger vehicles numbers for April 2023 were the following:

FINLAND – SWEDEN
The April Finland-Sweden results reflect the operations of the Helsinki-Stockholm and the Turku-Kapellskär routes. The cruise ferry GALAXY I (formerly GALAXY) stopped operating on the Turku-Stockholm route in September 2022 due to a charter contract.

ESTONIA – FINLAND
The April Estonia-Finland results reflect operations of shuttle services of MYSTAR, MEGASTAR and STAR. The cruise ferry SILJA EUROPA stopped operating on the Tallinn-Helsinki route in August 2022 due to a charter contract. The cargo vessel SEA WIND was sold in April 2022.

ESTONIA – SWEDEN
The April Estonia-Sweden results reflect the operations of the Tallinn-Stockholm and the Paldiski-Kapellskär route.