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Business & Finance - Wednesday 14.5.2003

The Silja Line shipping company has announced that it will flag out its cruise vessel Finnjet before summer next year. Finnjet, which has sailed under the Finnish flag until now, will begin to sail between Germany's Rostock, Tallinn, and St. Petersburg.
At the moment, Finnjet has carried passengers between Helsinki and Tallinn during the winters, and onwards from Tallinn to Rostock in the summer months. The decision to introduce a new route is an attempt to find more markets and opportunities for the ship. the gas-turbine powered Finnjet first sailed between Finland and Germany 26 years ago.
It has not yet been decided where Finnjet will be registered in the future. When Estonia joins the EU in May 2004, one crucial element in the revenues of shipping companies will disappear: tax-free alcohol sales will no longer be allowed.
According to Silja Line, it will then no longer be possible to sail profitably under the Finnish or Swedish flag.

Employment negotiations will now commence with the Finnjet crew of around 250 people. Once a decision is made on the new country of registration, Silja Line will investigate how many Finnish officers will still be required, how many people will retire, and what the job situation is like on the company's two remaining Finnish ships, Silja Europa and Silja Serenade.
These two car and passenger ferries will continue sailing between Finland and Sweden under the Finnish flag.
The news about Finnjet took Silja Line chief shop steward Leif Drockila by surprise, even though some sort of measures had been expected. "The fate of Finnjet has been uncertain for a long time."
Drockila is concerned about the future of the crew. He maintains that the company cannot dismiss any permanent staff, as there are plenty of fixed-term workers on its other ships. Drockila also encourages the state to keep the previous government's promise of new subsidies for shipping.
According to Drockila, the Finnish flag is the most expensive alternative in the Baltic Sea region, as even Sweden supports its shipping industry more generously than Finland.

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