Viking Line, the listed Finnish cruise ferry company, has reported a net loss of €15.7 million for the first quarter of 2013 compared to a loss of €15.1 million in the same period last year, the company said in a statement.

Freight revenue fell by 4.1% to €9.1 million and operating expenses rose by 11.2% to €102.1 million, but revenues from passenger business increased by 15.5% to €105.2 million. The increase in passenger revenues lifted the group’s total revenue to €115.0 million from €101.2 million in the same period last year.

The company said that the new cruise ferry Viking Grace that entered service between Turku and Stockholm in January had carried 282,578 passengers up to the end of March and that this meant a 66.4% rise in the number of passengers the company carried on the two ship service compared to the first three months of last year.

In all, the company carried 1.35 million passengers in the review period, little changed from the first quarter of 2012, while freight volume declined to 28,747 units from 31,636.