The company operating the world’s northernmost international ferry service has been renamed to Wasaline. Previously it traded under the Finnish name of Vaasanlaivat and the Swedish one of Vasabatarna.

The company, which is part of the NLC group, operates the 17,046 gross ton Wasa Express that was built as Travemunde in 1981 between Vaasa in Finland and Umea in Sweden. The crossing takes three and a half hours and in addition to providing a transport service, it is also used as a mini cruise.

The new company name, which was briefly used in the late 1980s by the present company’s predecessor, works in many languages and it fits all the target groups the company is aiming for, said Catharina Fant, head of marketing and corporate communications at the company. The company commenced operations in January and it has refined its strategy since then.

Vaasa and Umea lie slightly further north than the southernmost tip of Greenland, or Davis Strait that separates the Canadian mainland from Resolution Island.