A storm has broken out in the social media in Finland after Viking Line, the listed ferry company, said on 23 November it had assigned a letter of intent with a shipyard in China to build a 63,000 gross ton cruise ferry.
Many commentators regretted the decision and would have preferred it to be placed with a Finnish shipyard instead. The company said that Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry Co. Ltd in China had offered a lower price than Finnish or other European yards. Jan Hanses, CEO, said it had felt a bit sad not to be able to give the contract to a domestic builder.
“So the Viking Line CEO is a bit sad that he could not order the ship at a Finnish shipyard. May he wipe the crocodile’s tears from his eyes! The picture how the company proceeded in the matter is clear to see. The order, which they undoubtedly had decided to give to China, was only published now, when delivery times at the shipyard in Turku had become ‘conveniently’ stretched,” said a commentator on Maritimeforum.fi on the Internet.
“Sad that you cannot travel by Viking Line any more,” said Just on the website of the Turun Sanomat daily. “Viking Line’s image suffered a lot of damage,” another commentator noted.
“That Chinese (built) bucket will provide lots of work for shipyards in Finland, when the time comes to start putting right shortcomings in quality (of work),” noted yet another commentator.
Some commentators pointed out that Viking Line had received grants from the Finnish government, including €28 million in 2012 in environmental aid towards the construction of the dual fuel powered cruise ferry Viking Grace that was built at what is Meyer Turku Shipyard now and delivered in 2013. They were angered by the fact that the contract for the next ship of the line would go to a foreign builder.
However, seemingly a minority of the commentators pointed out that if there was a substantial difference in price, it was obvious that the company would award the contract to the lowest bidder.
Some years ago, Viking Line placed an order for a much smaller ferry with a Spanish shipbuilder. The yard was unable to deliver the vessel on time and Viking Line cancelled the contract. It built the 57,565 gross ton Viking Grace at Turku and the 35,778 gross ton Viking XPRS at Aker Yards' Helsinki Shipyard. Viking Grace had a price tag of €240 million before the environmental grant, whereas the ship to be built in China, which will be slightly larger, would cost €190 million.
Viking Line traces its roots to 1959 and it is a listed company with headquarters in Mariehamn on the Aland Islands. It is in no way connected to Viking Cruises, the deep sea and river cruise ship operator.
The Meyer Turku Shipyard has a heavy work load of cruise liners, while Rauma Marine Constructions that reopened the yard in Rauma that STX Finland had closed, is building a ropax ferry for Mols-Linien in Denmark. The Arctech shipyard in Helsinki has recently built offshore services vessels and icebreakers. However, the company is looking at ferries and expedition cruise liners as new directions for its business.
