By
Alice Chambers |
Stena Line made its first trip on its new route between Nynäshamn, Sweden, and Hanko, Finland, on 1 February 2022. The route is the ferry operator’s first connection between Sweden and mainland Finland and part of its expansion in the Baltic Sea.
Its vessel, Urd, departed from Stockholm Norvik Port in Nynäshamn, celebrating with anonboard inauguration ceremony attended by specially invited guests.
Initially, Stena Line will offer three departures per week on the Nynäshamn-Hanko link but extend the service to offer daily sailings when Stena Gothica arrives on the route in May 2022. Urd and Stena Gothica have 1,600 lane metres and capacity for 186 passengers each.
“This new service is primarily an outcome of customer dialogue and market demand,” said Johan Edelman, trade director for the North Baltic Sea at Stena Line. “It is a straightforward, transport-focused set-up , dedicated to establishing a floating bridge between Central Sweden and Southern Finland. But to bring it to life you also need to be somewhat entrepreneurial, and it requires hard work, a dedicated team and strong commitment to make a new route a success. So far the response has been very positive which shows that we made the right decision.”
The new route departs from Stockholm Norvik Port, the ro-ro and container terminal that opened in September 2016.
“The commitment of Stena Line in introducing another route from Stockholm Norvik Port emphasises how important the newly built port is for the sustainable supply of goods to Sweden’s largest consumer area,” said Fredrik Lindstål, chairman at Ports of Stockholm. “The port has strong intermodal connections to the rest of Sweden both by road and by rail and the location is closer to the fairway than any other ports on the Swedish east coast. It is a success that we together can grow with yet another new route, this time between Sweden and Finland.”