The Tallink Group, the Baltics' largest passenger shipping company, announced that 55 percent of its first quarter income (financial year begins in August) came from onboard retail sales and restaurant receipts. This compares with 48 percent a year earlier. Ticket sales, by contrast, accounted for 21 percent of first quarter sales. Total revenue amounted to nearly 3 billion kroons (190 million euros). Finland-Sweden route services accounted for 49 percent of sales and Estonia-Finland 25 percent.
Tallink reported last week that it spent 56.6 million kroons (3.6 million euros) on laying off staff after the company took over Silja, a Finnish passenger line. The company said the annual saving of the layoff would amount to 98 million kroons.
Owners of Riga Passenger Terminal announced they may invest up to 300 million euros in modernizing the terminal, which currently does not meet EU standards. Director Valerijs Barjers said revamping the terminal would cost 1,200 euros per square meters since "high-quality materials" will be used. He said a 420-meter wharf and passenger boarding tunnels would also be built. A group of foreign investors bought the port complex for nearly 6 million lats (8.5 million euros) in January.