Tallink Purchases Silja Line

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

Sea Containers Ltd. has sold it's Silja Line cruise ferry business to competitor Tallink for €450 million plus 5 million new shares of Tallink stock. Details of this important development in the Baltic Sea can be found at:

http://ext1.silja.com/BULLETINS/?tiedote_id=126

 

Silja Line is strong in the Sweden-Finland ferry business with overnight service in both directions Stockholm-Helsinki using the ships Silja Serenade and Silja Symphony as well as Stockholm-Turku using the ships Silja Europa and Silja Festival. Serenade and Symphony are famous as being the first ships with an indoor promenade mall with shops and restaurants, something copied a decade later by Royal Caribbean on their Voyager-class ships. Aparently Silja Opera and the famous FINNJET are not included in the sale as Silja continues to try to sell those ships separately.

 

Tallink is an Estonian company that has grown rapidly because of their much lower labor costs. Based in Tallin, Estonia, Tallink has a fleet of older and brand new ships with the main routes of Tallin-Helsinki, Tallin-Stockholm and Riga (Latvia)-Stockholm. The new Galaxy was introduced this year, Victoria 1 was new in 2004 and Romantika was new in 2002. Most routes are overnight services but can be purchased as a roundtrip mini-cruise with one full day to visit the opposite port.

 

Cruisers who like to travel independently and hop across northern Europe should consider cruise ferry travel as an relatively inexpensive way to city hop in Scandinavia. Cabins are very similar to what you're used to on the major cruise lines and the ships are full of diversions such as restaurants, bars and incredible night clubs, especially on weekend nights. Some routes still offer duty-free purchases with huge supermarkets on board. However, the prices are great deals for Scandinavians but not for anyone used to U.S. prices! Meals are typically not included in basic rates.

 

Silja Line website: www.silja.com and select the International site.

Tallink: www.tallink.ee and select ENG (for English) from the lower left corner.

 

BobK/Orlando