RoPax10

INTERVIEW / 55
look at the passenger traffic. 2019 was a record
year and the first time ever that we
transported more than 400.000 passengers
in one year on the route. That is one of the
reasons why we now upgrade and invest 5
million Euro in the two ships “Skane” and
“Mecklenburg Vorpommern”. Those ships
were in a need for an upgrade, and this is
probably the most extensive renovation we
ever made on a ship. We have customers in
the region travelling with both the route
from Gothenburg to Kiel and from Trelleborg
to Rostock and therefore it is important
that we offer an equal standard on
these ships. We also have more passengers
from central Europe, which use the route
by the easy access via the highway. All in
all we are very satisfied and the German
market is very stable because and we see
great development also on Kiel – Gothenburg.
RoPax: On Kiel – Gothenburg you will get
more cargo by the new train from Luxembourg.
You reported in the last year you
had a little bit less cargo on your route to
Kiel.
Niclas Mårtensson: Yes, the new train
started this week and the train was fully
booked from day one. It is a cooperation
between Stena Line, Port of Kiel, LKW
Walter and the the Luxembourg train
operator CFL multimodal. The cargo business
goes up and down if we loose volumes
on freight we try to compensate it by more
passengers. The mix in the operation of
RoPax vessels is easier to mitigate than in
pure RoRo traffic.
RoPax: You are still operating the service
between Sassnitz (Mukran) and Trelleborg
(Königslinie). At this route you have the
popular night train from Berlin to Malmö
on board. This business is increased in the
last year due the Greta effect (Greta Thunberg,
climate activist)
Niclas Mårtensson: Yes, it is a probably a
little bit pushed by the Greta effect but we
have worked hard to during the last three
years to get this train again on board our
vessel together with our partners at Snälltåget.
Rail ferries are important and it seems
both the freight market and the passengers
want us to continue having railcars on
board our vessels. But we also need the
support from the politicians in both
Sweden and Germany, to ensure there are
enough volumes to keep going, and to
keep the two rail way strategy (ferry +
bridge) between Sweden and the continent.
Because it cost us 10-15% more
in maintenance with rail ferries and
Stena Line cannot guarantee or develop
that service unless we have the support to
do so.
Stena in Gothenburg port
RoPax: Could it be, that you will get more
trains back on your vessels?
Niclas Mårtensson: Yes, we see a growth
there already both on passenger and freight
volumes and today we use the ferry
“Sassnitz” also at the Rostock-Trelleborg to
transport more rail freight volumes.
RoPax: At the Kattegat you went back to
the port of Halmstad in the beginning of
February.
Niclas Mårtensson: Yes, it may look as we
move from Varberg to Halmstad but actually
we say that we have opened a new
route. It will be interesting to see the development
there because the last years we had
a kind of cannibalization between Varberg
and Gothenburg, especially on the freight
side. Now we are moving further south
and we can pick up the competition with
Stena Line
Rostock verbindet:
120 Fähr- und RoRo-Abfahrten pro Woche
Opening new horizons
www.rostock-port.de
RoPax 10 / 03.2020