Stena Line to cut 950 jobs in Sweden

Image: Stena Line

Coronavirus-related travel restrictions in Europe have had a devastating effect on ferry operations. On Friday, Gothenburg, Sweden, headquartered Stena Line said that, with Danish and Polish closing their borders, it would suspend all passengers traffic to these countries until further notice. Shipments of freight will continue at present. The route between Oslo and Frederikshavn, Denmark, will be fully suspended.

Today, Stena Line announced that it plans to cut 950 jobs in Sweden.The company said that, like many other companies in the travel industry, it had seen a drastic decline in travel bookings.

“The effect has been the worst in Scandinavia and recent those days passenger traffic to Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Germany, and Latvia has been stopped to a large extent,” said Stena Line, adding that “at present, it is estimated that passenger operations will not recover before the peak season in summer.”

Stena Line said its is forced to take drastic measures to adapt the reduce costs of the new business situation and to secure the continuity of its freight business.

The planned 950 job cuts are to positions onboard and offshore, on nine Swedish flagged vessels, as well as positions in the two sister companies Stena Line Travel Group and Retail & Food Services.

“Due to the current situation we are facing, we have no choice but to adjust our operations and our costs to limit the drop in demand and secure the continuity of our freight operations”, says Niclas Mårtensson, CEO of Stena Line.

Stena Line, says it is currently evaluating its overall operations in all regions due to the sharp decline in travel bookings and does not rule out that there will be further reductions or series of changes to its timetables and/or the route network.