At the same time, the company's ferries carried 442,484 private vehicles (+24% year-on-year) and 129,278 ro-ro cargo units (+2.9% yoy).

The Turku-Åland Islands-Stockholm route saw an increase of 51.9% yoy, up to 904,321 passengers.

On the other hand, the Helsinki-Åland-Stockholm crossing fell by 11.3% yoy to 153,183 travellers.

Viking Cinderella, which served the Stockholm-Mariehamn link and embarked on cruises last year, accommodated 261,010 passengers (+26.2%).

Rosella's Mariehamn-Kapellskär crossing was up by 81.8% yoy to 348,209 travellers.

Viking XPRS, plying between Helsinki and Tallinn, carried 21.1% yoy fewer passengers, down to 591,122.

"Given the challenging situation for running operations in an environment where there was no demand at times due to restrictions and other limitations, we are satisfied with the volumes for the year. Passenger numbers on the Turku route are especially gratifying, with Åland - an attractive holiday destination - seeing a significant upturn in Finland. The summer's special cruises with Viking Cinderella were greatly appreciated by our guests," Jan Hanses, President and CEO, Viking Line, commented.

He furthered, "In the autumn of 2021, the situation started to normalize, but this trend was interrupted by the new Covid-19 variant and subsequent tightening of travel restrictions. We are also pleased that there was great demand for space on our car decks, which is reflected in cargo and car volumes."