Baltic LNG Ferry's Cost Disclosed

Estonian ferries operator Tallink said it paid "over €230mn" for the LNG-fuelled fast ferry Megastar that it put into service on January 29 this year on its Tallinn-Helsinki route.

In a company presentation April 6, it said 20% of the vessel cost was paid during its construction at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland, which began August 2015, with the remaining 80% financed under an OECD-standard export credit bank loan.

Although a dual-fuel ship, Megastar uses LNG as its main fuel, said Tallink, and when doing so produces 25% less carbon dioxide, 85% less nitrous oxide and almost zero sulphur oxides and particles than marine fuel oil and diesel; it uses LNG in the current 0.1% sulphur-capped Baltic emission control area (ECA), where tighter standards apply than in most of the world's shipping lanes.

Tallink says it has a 48% share of the estimated 20mn passenger market among northern Baltic ferries

Tallink says its fleet of 16 ships has a 48% share of the northern Baltic ferry passenger market. Megastar is its newest ship and was delivered from Meyer Turku Shipyard to Tallink on schedule on January 24 2017.

The ferry operator recently published its 2016 sales as €938mn and net profit of €44mn, down from €945mn and €59mn respectively in 2015.

Mark Smedley