Passenger ship routes to restart in Nordics

Finnish ferry and cruise line company Viking Line is resuming operations for five of its seven ships in response to the Finnish government easing its Covid-19 restrictions.

Viking Line's routes between Finland, Sweden, the Aland Islands and Estonia will resume from 1 June. The company expects "great interest" in local holidays, but its routes between Helsinki and Stockholm, and Stockholm and Mariehamn will not open until 30 June.

Ferry and cruise line companies tend to buy fuel on term contracts as they operate regular routes.

Cruise ships make up about 6pc of global bunker demand, but have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic restrictions. The world's three biggest cruise lines took their ships out of operation from March.

Paris-based energy watchdog the IEA has forecast that bunker fuel demand from cruise ships will fall by 90pc in the second quarter of the year. It expects the cruise industry to recover marginally to a year-on-year drop of 83pc in the third quarter, and a drop of 60pc in the fourth quarter.

By Erik Hoffmann