The company's vessels also transported 1,041kt of non-unitised freight, up 28.4% year-on-year on the January-September 2020 result.

Also, more passengers (private & commercial) boarded Finnlines' ships, an increase of 12.6% yoy to 439k travellers. In addition, 21.6% yoy more passenger cars (124k) were carried.

"An upward trend continued during the third quarter when cargo volumes increased nearly on all routes. The automotive industry suffered from shortage of components and the summer stoppage was longer than anticipated. However, as the Finnlines fleet consists of vessels in different sizes, capacity could be moved from routes with temporarily declining demand to others where larger capacity was needed," Emanuele Grimaldi, President and CEO, Finnlines, commented.

He added, "When travel restrictions were gradually eased, recreational travel recovered although passenger numbers remained far below the normal level."

Grimaldi also underlined, "While the global shortage of containers has challenged importers and exporters and led to world-wide supply-chain disruptions, roll-on-roll-off vessels have proved to be efficient and competitive modes of transport. Finnlines has carried freight uninterruptedly throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, offering around 170 departures each week."