A court in Finland has approved an application by Kristina Cruises, the owner and operator of the 12,700 gross ton Kristina Katarina, to commence debt restructuring of the company. The application was backed by the two biggest creditors of the family owned company that is based in Kotka in south eastern Finland.

Earlier this week, the company terminated a programme of fly cruises in the Canary Islands from Finland to stem losses and filed an application with the regional court is Southern Karelia to enter debt restructuring, a procedure similar to Chapter XI in the US.

It plans to resume its operations in the spring.

Today the company said it would commence talks with its 200 strong staff about layoffs or redundancies as it has closed down its operations for at least four months. Such talks are requirement of the Finnish law, but the law does not require that the parties agree on the measures to be taken.

Kristina Katarina was built in Poland in 1982 and it underwent an extensive refit before entering service with Kristina Cruises in 2010. The company operates the vessel under the Finnish flag and it also sells its cruises on the Finnish market, which has suffered from a severe downturn of the Nordic country's economy.