Finnlines

About Finnlines

Finnlines is a Finnish ferry operator and one of the leading providers of freight and ferry services in the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the Bay of Biscay. It was founded in 1947 and started out with six old steamships intended to rebuild the Finnish merchant fleet after the war. Since the 2000s Finnlines has belonged to the Grimaldi group of Naples, one of the largest ro-ro operators in the world; the Italian group became the largest shareholder in 2007 and took the company over completely in 2015. Finnlines matters to Finland in a very practical way: around 95 per cent of Finnish exports and 97 per cent of imports go by sea, and a large share of that moves on Finnlines ships.

Fleet

Finnlines owns around 20 ships with some 88,000 lane metres between them and counts around 190 departures a week; the average age of the fleet is about 15 years. For travellers it is the passenger ferries that count. The three identical Star class ships Finnstar, Finnmaid (both 2006) and Finnlady (2007) sail between Travemünde and Helsinki with 554 passenger places and 4,215 lane metres each. Their sister ships Finnswan, Finnpartner and Finntrader serve the Travemünde - Malmö route. The newest ships are the Superstar ferries Finnsirius and Finncanopus, built in 2023, with 1,100 passenger places and 5,200 lane metres each; they sail between Kapellskär, Långnäs and Naantali. All passenger ships carry the highest ice class, 1A Super, and sail all year round.

Routes to Finland

The key link for travellers coming from Germany is Travemünde - Helsinki: the only direct ferry between Germany and Finland leaves the Skandinavienkai terminal daily and reaches the port of Vuosaari in eastern Helsinki after 30 hours and two nights on board. If you travel through Sweden, take Kapellskär - Naantali: from the port north-east of Stockholm it is 8 to 9 hours to Naantali near Turku, with a call at Långnäs on Åland on the way, twice a day. Finnlines also sails Travemünde - Malmö and Świnoujście - Malmö, both of them routes to Sweden.

Check-in, vehicles and pets

In Travemünde, check-in for the Helsinki ferry opens at 20:30 the evening before and closes two hours before the night departure; if you have booked an electricity connection for your vehicle you must be checked in by 23:30, and foot passengers should be there by 23:00, because the shuttle bus to the ship only runs until midnight. Loading starts at around 23:00. Vehicles over 3.80 m high, such as coaches and tall motorhomes, check in at the port house; vehicles over 2.10 m wait on a different deck and are loaded later. Inside the port area you wear a high-visibility vest whenever you are outside your vehicle or on a bike. In Kapellskär and Naantali, check-in opens two hours before departure and closes one hour before; in Helsinki-Vuosaari it runs between 12:00 and 14:00 for the return sailing to Travemünde.

Cars, motorcycles, bicycles, caravans and motorhomes are all carried, with the details in the guide Taking a motorhome to Finland. Register pets when you book: there are pet cabins for a maximum of two animals each, and animals are not allowed in indoor areas such as the restaurant, the bar and the lounge. What else applies when you enter Finland is covered in the guide Taking your dog to Finland.

Tickets

On board and at check-in you pay by card with Visa, Mastercard or Maestro; cash is not accepted. Finnlines bills in euros, on the Swedish route as well. Kapellskär - Naantali is sold in a limited Special fare and in a flexible Standard fare; on the Helsinki route, cancellation and rebooking depend on the product you choose. The timetable shows the sailings and the booking window on the route page shows the price for your date; what you need to keep constant for a fair comparison is explained in the price overview.