Grimaldi Group ropax company Finnlines claims it has been excluded from Finnish state aid during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chief executive Emanuele Grimaldi said the shipowner had not received a penny to help with lower volumes.
In July, Finnlines revealed it was in talks with the National Emergency Supply Agency (NESA) of Finland to obtain a slice of the €45m ($53m) that the government agency had set aside for shipping companies.
NESA has already granted financial support to four out of seven commercial operators.
Finnlines filed its own application for emergency support in May.
However, the company has received nothing.
Nor has Finnlines received a slice of the €24.8m offered for routes from Finland to Sweden and Estonia by the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom), the company said.
Unfair process?
Grimaldi said the Traficom aid "has been tailor-made for the existing operators and its terms have excluded Finnlines from receiving any".
He also claimed tendering processes were "distortive, against principles of proportionality and discriminatory".
Grimaldi added that the funding model is also expensive for society because there is existing capacity available on market terms, without taxpayers’ support, especially between Finland and Sweden.
"Alternative ways of support from the state to all strategic shipping companies could be possible, less distortive, more clean, more viable and more sustainable than the present one," he said.
Grimaldi added that the government should be covering standard costs such as port fees, crew expenses, pension costs and more.
"Finnlines is available for cooperation in this sense," Grimaldi said.
NESA told TradeWinds: "Unfortunately at this point we don’t have any comment on this matter due to ongoing legal processes."
Traficom has been contacted for comment.
Profit falls in third quarter
Finnlines' net profit for the third quarter was €22.5m, down from €35.1m in 2019.
Revenue dropped to €126.7m, against €155.3m in the same period last year.
Passenger volumes plunged by more than 50% in the first nine months, and by 70% between Finland and Sweden.
The company said the pandemic shows no signs of slowing down, but it has not yet laid up any ships and services are continuing unaltered.
Finnlines said it is a critical player in transporting medicines, food and other commodities to Finnish citizens.
Looking ahead, the company said the second wave of the pandemic has hindered the early recovery, which had already begun in Europe from the end of the summer.
"Therefore, Finnlines anticipates that its operations are affected negatively also during the coming months," Grimaldi said.
"However, the company started already in early April measures to save costs and has been able to maintain the profitability of its operations."
