Finnlines, an operator of about 20 ro-ro and passenger ships in north and western Europe, reported rising profits as its key markets started rebounding from a coronavirus slump.
Recovery, however, could have been faster if the Finnish government had been less strict about travel curbs and had not excluded the company from anti-pandemic state aid, Finnlines chief executive Emanuele Grimaldi said.
“Our financial performance has improved regardless of the fact that passenger services remained subdued due to Finland’s tight Covid-19-related travel restrictions,” Grimaldi said in an earnings statement released on Thursday.
Net income more than doubled in the second quarter from the same period last year to €23.1m ($27.4m), as revenue jumped 39% to €146.8m. Profit for the entire first half of the year rose to €36.3m, a 14% jump on the first six months of last year, on revenue of €270.8m.
Finnlines, which claims to be carrying more than one-third of Finland’s rubber tyre exports in key markets around the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the Bay of Biscay, benefited from an 8% increase in total Finnish seaborne exports between January and May.
Traffic in private and commercial passengers, by contrast, remained broadly unchanged from last year. Even though passenger volumes started recovering, Finland relaxed its travel restrictions slowly as it is more stringent than other European Union member states, Grimaldi explained.
Finnlines said in its results statement that it has filed appeals and complaints with national and EU authorities over what it described as “selective and discriminatory aid measures” by the Finnish government.
The company cried foul last year over being excluded from Finnish state aid designed to help local companies cope with the financial fallout of the pandemic.
Finnlines is fully-owned by Italy’s Grimaldi Group, which is based in Naples and operates about 130 ships in total.
The company said it embarked on cost-saving measures early last year that allowed it “to maintain proper cost efficiency” well into 2021.
Finnlines maintains a positive outlook.
“All in all, the year looks promising with increased export and import volumes," the company said.
At the end of the year, it expects its cargo volumes to receive a further boost from the delivery of a ro-ro newbuilding.
This will be the first in a series of five ro-ro and ropax ships under Finnlines' ongoing €500m newbuilding programme. Its new "eco-efficient" ships, to be delivered gradually through to 2023, are built to comply with strict European and global environmental standards.
