Viking Line has not specified how many jobs will be cut, but says the number will likely be around 25. The talks, which began on Monday, do not involve its shipboard employees or those in Sweden.
Viking Line says the biggest reason for the planned job cuts is a tougher air pollution law that takes effect next year. The company estimates that the EU’s Sulphur Directive will push its fuel costs up by 15 to 20 million euros annually.
The directive lists the Baltic Sea as a sulphur emission control area, where the maximum sulphur content of the fuels used by ships must be limited to 1.5 percent.
The line, which operates passenger ferry traffic between Finland, Sweden and Estonia, is based in the Åland Islands, a semi-autonomous Finnish province.
“We estimate that our fuel costs will rise by 15 to 20 million euros in 2015,” says Viking Line communications director Johanna Boijer-Svahnström. “Six of our seven vessels will switch to using marine diesel. Our fuel consumption will rise significantly,” she adds.
The redundancy talks are part of a larger cost-cutting programme. The Viking Line Group is to publish its 2013 year-end report on February 13.
