Key priorities

The fuel consumption and amount of emissions are affected by many factors like passenger numbers, cargo amounts in tons, actual distance from port to port and weather conditions.

We have been able to decrease the emissions by using low sulfur fuel, navigating economically and using catalyzers and modern engines. The waste heat from the engines is saved and reused on board for example to general heating.
 

Bridges on vessels have fuel monitoring system that helps optimizing the operation of ship and lower the consumption of fuel, energy and emissions. Control of fuel consumption allows eliminating fuel theft in a fleet and thereby helps to reduce total fuel expenses and fleet costs. Ships operating on same routes are compared with each other in fuel consumption. Information is also shared within ships for better optimizing in certain weather and wind conditions on specific spots on route.

Our company is pioneer on using ship simulators on trainings. The officers are training regularly for unexpecting situations in ship simulators. Additionally, we run annual joined trainings together with maritime rescue authorities, police forces, fire department, harbor and Traficom.
 

With slower travel speed we can use lower power output on engines, and this way reduce emissions. It is common that ships depart little bit early from ports – of course not until all passengers are onboard. On Helsinki-Stockholm route we also operate with special winter timetables when travel time is longer. Winter timetable is valid from beginning of September until end of May.
 

In order to reduce the exhaust gas on ships staying on ports longer than 2 hours, since 2010 the power production during harbor time is maintained with fuel that has less than 0.5% sulfur. From 2015 all our ships changed to fuel that has 0,1 % sulfur.
 

Using shore power has huge impact on climate emissions, but it also benefits the residents near harbors as it causes less noise. When arriving to the port, the onboard diesel generators will be switched off and the vessel is connected to the shore power supply network. The ships’ energy load is then transferred to the port’s onshore power supply seamlessly, without interfering with any of the services provided onboard. By shutting down the assisting engines that produce electricity in harbor, we reduce the climate emissions 60-80%. It is profitable to use shore power on ships that stay in harbor more than 2 hours.

The usage of shore power is planned together with harbors in Helsinki, Tallinn and Stockholm. Stockholm Värtan was the first harbor that started using shore power for Silja Serenade and Silja Symphony, operating on Helsinki-Stockholm route, on summer 2019. Tallinn harbor followed during year 2020 to offer shore power for Europa and Baltic Queen. In 2022 also both LNG powered Shuttle ferries Megastar and MyStar (delivery on Q2/2022) will plug into the local grid for quiet and emission-free overnight layovers in the Port of Tallinn.

In Helsinki Olympia terminal the shore power was ready in 2020 and will be deployed during summer 2021. West harbor will also have its own shore power during summer 2021.
Read more about shore power
 

The hulls of the group’s vessels are regularly cleaned by divers who, when conducting this process, do not use chemicals that are harmful to the environment. The hulls of Silja Serenade, Silja Symphony, Baltic Princess and Galaxy are brushed and cleaned approximately 4 times during summer months, depending on the weather even more often.

When the underwater hulls are clean the fuel consumption is 2-4 times less than on same route without cleaning. Equally the exhaust gases get smaller.
 

Maritime transportation is an environmentally friendly way of traveling, when we calculate the emissions based on the actual and certified information..

It is not simple to compare environmental emissions within different ways of transportation. When comparing the emission figures the ways of calculation must be noticed. Especially on shipping transportation it is good to notice that ships are carrying major part of foreign trade transport in Finland and maritime shipping is the most environmentally friendly way of transport when transporting big amounts of goods. Overnight maritime transportation also covers the emissions from the accommodation.

Comparing the emission figures with other ways of transportation, the carbon footprint should be calculated with using mass method where allocation has been made on base of weight.

Examples of CO2 emissions per passenger (year 2018):
 

• Helsinki-Stockholm 20-24 kg/passenger (Helsinki-Stockholm flight according to ICAO emission calculator 41-64 kg/passenger, according to Finnair calculator 52-88kg/passenger depending on the aircraft type).
• Helsinki-Tallinn (LNG powered vessel) 7,8 kg/passenger (Helsinki-Tallinn flight according to Finnair emission calculator 23,47 kg/passenger)

According to our calculations the LNG powered vessel, like Megastar, results 30 % less CO2 emissions than vessel operating on same route by using low sulfur fuel.
 

International Maritime Organizations IMO has made decisions on cutting the CO2 emissions in March 2018. The decision was to reduce carbon intensity of international shipping (to reduce CO2 emissions per transport work), as an average across international shipping, by at least 40% by 2030, pursuing efforts towards 70% by 2050, compared to 2008.

IMO also decided to cut annual greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping by at least half by 2050, compared with their level in 2008, and work towards phasing out GHG emissions from shipping entirely as soon as possible in this century. These restrictions apply to the whole seafaring, not only new vessels.

The CO2 emission levels are measured and followed by ship-specific accuracy and results are reported to EU Commission. The EUR MRV (Monitoring, Reporting, Verifying) regulation requires ships to monitor and report their CO2 emissions, fuel consumption, transport work and average energy efficiency.

Basically different shipping company’s collect data from fuel consumption of each ship that is later audited and verified by independent 3rd party verifier. Other transportation fields do not have similar kind of global, actual usage-based data collection system.

The EU MRV (Monitoring, Reporting, Verification) Regulation system: https://mrv.emsa.europa.eu/#public/emission-report

 

On Tallink Silja vessels we are giving up of all excessive plastic. On shops we only offer paper or reusable shopping bags and using of plastic straws has been reduced radically and replaced with biodegradable ones.

In restaurants and cafeterias single use dishware are used as little as possible and unnecessary plastic usage has been minimized. Single use dishes and plastic Club One cards are abandoned in stages. We also cooperate with our suppliers to reduce the plastic packaging.
 

The accumulating black (toilet waste) and grey (sewer and washing waste) water are pumped directly to city’s draining network during harbor visits. From drains the waste waters flows forward to the wastewater treatment plants. Waste waters are never pumped into sea – we have absolutely zero tolerance on letting any waste waters into our precious Baltic Sea.
 

Organic waste is accumulated, depending on passenger numbers, for example on Silja Serenade on Helsinki-Stockholm route 8000-14 000 kg in a month.

Our goal for the future is to be able to further process organic waste into fuel. On ships we are also investigating if organic waste could be used for composting. We are working closely together with professionals on different fields.
 

The waste oil from our ships are transferred to further processing and cleaning on shore. This way it could be reused for example on power plants.

Lately we have been happy to try out machine for further processing and cleaning of waste oil on Silja Symphony on Helsinki-Stockholm route. With this method the waste oil can be reused onboard even more effectively.
 

We are constantly using environmentally friendly detergents and applicators which help us to act more responsible towards environment. The laundry is done on shore by company who is using only detergents without phosphates.

Tallink group has been following the development of lighting and lamp technology for a long time. Light bulbs have been changed to energy efficient light bulbs and - fluorescent lighting tubes. In the future the trend will be towards Led-technology.

The company staff has reduced printing radically both on land operation and on board.
 

One of the most significant partners is Visit Finland. Their relatively new environmental programme Sustainable Travel Finland is designed for Finnish tourism companies and destinations to develop more sustainable practices. Tallink Silja was awarded with the Sustainable Travel Finland label as the first shipping company in the Baltic Sea. The label ownership is audited every two years and criteria and targets monitored carefully. Tallink Silja has renewed the STF label for 2021-2023 in September 2021.

Tallink Silja signed a new cooperation agreement with the John Nurminen Foundation in Finland for 2023 with the aim of raising vital funds for the protection of the Baltic Sea. Tallink Silja and John Nurminen Foundation have cooperated on Baltic Sea protection projects also in previous years, but not on this scale. In addition to raising funds for the protection of the Baltic Sea environment, the cooperation will also see the organizations working together on awareness raising, highlighting key concerns and ways in which everyone can get involved in its protection.

As part of the cooperation, Tallink Silja will make a donation to John Nurminen Foundation from every Tallink Silja Line branded water bottle sold on board the company’s vessels during 2023.
”Bottled water is the number one sales article on board our vessels although reusable water bottles and simply drinking tap water on board are increasingly popular too. We hope that by the end of the year we will have been able to support the vital activities of John Nurminen Foundation with approximately 20 000 euros through this year’s campaign and our customers and staff will know much more about how they can help protect our Baltic Sea and the environment in general,” Piret Mürk-Dubout, Management Board Member of Tallink Grupp, added.

"We act on a daily basis to reduce eutrophication of the Baltic Sea and to preserve the diversity of marine nature. At the John Nurminen Foundation, we are grateful to Tallink Grupp for their support, which we will use to improve the well-being of our beloved Baltic Sea, to fight against the loss of biodiversity and to strengthen the awareness about the Baltic Sea and its heritage. “ Erkki Salo, Fundraising Manager at John Nurminen Foundation said.

Climate partners is cooperation network of City of Helsinki and business sector that aim to reduce the climate emissions, strengthen the competition of companies and finding new business possibilities.

Tallink Silja's commitments:
 

• Tallink Silja's objective is to reduce fuel consumption on Helsinki-Stockholm route 0.5. % in a year, based on the consumption of main engines tons/nautical mile (ton/nm) and current summer-winter timetables and normal ice conditions during winter months.
• Tallink Silja is committed to decrease the paper waste of its head quarter 5 % in a year, based on 230 employers at the office.
• The environmental awareness of staff both on land operations and on ships is developed with internal communication.

 

Baltic Sea Action Group BSAG is 2008 established, independent, non-profit foundation that actions are based on cooperation between various operators.

Our staff has been trained to be part of WWF volunteer oil prevention team as part of Baltic Sea Action Groups commitments. Tallink Silja has also been involved on BSAGs project to reduce the nutrient releases by shipping operations.

Tallink Silja is working closely together with The Finnish Environment Institute to help monitor the state of the Baltic Sea. In practice this means that sensors and pumps are installed to the bottom of Silja Serenade to collect the water for further analyses. Silja Serenade’s engine room has small laboratory that analyses the water samples and sends real time information to the scientist in The Finnish Environment Institute. The water samples collected on Silja Serenade monitors especially the temperature of the surface water, level of saltiness and concentration of weed in the water.
 

All our 11 passenger ships have been awarded MSC certificate, the most reliable environmental certificate for sustainable and trackable fishing.

MSC certificate for fish and seafood continues our work towards sustainable development. By seeing the blue MSC labels in ships restaurants, customers can be sure that the labelled products are from sustainable fisheries that catch fish in ways that ensure the long-term health of a stock or species and the wellbeing of the ocean.
 

Food is big part of successful cruise experience. Our goal is to supply the fresh, high class materials from local suppliers whenever possible. Due to high customer numbers this is not always possible. For example, the Baltic herring on all our vessels is produced by local fisherman Vento Aalto from Pyhämaa, Uusikaupunki in Finland.  

Tallink Silja is developing the vegetarian and vegan food selection on ships together with clients and for example with social media influencers. Our aim is to meet the needs of vegetarians and vegans even better.  

The materials and products to ships restaurants are bought from local suppliers whenever possible. Meat products are supplied from different countries, but we aim to use Nordic meat when the availability is guaranteed. The menus onboard changes with every season and we do our best to choose the materials produced on neighbouring countries (Finland, Sweden, Estonia).

Our suppliers are reliable and approved by authorities and to whom quality we can trust. The availability of the products is also a big factor on our decision making. In all our actions we aim to be as responsible as possible.  

On Tallink Silja vessels over 1,5 million eggs are consumed every year only on Buffer breakfasts. Tallink Group is gradually changing towards using only eggs coming from open air chicken coops by 2025. This is one part of our goals on using more responsibly produced materials.  

We have been cooperating with WWF to reduce the food waste. WWF organized workshops for the crew where the overall environmental impacts of food were discussed, and actions on how to reduce the food waste in kitchen were considered. We inform our also passengers about food waste and how they can impact on the subject both as a consumer and as restaurant client.

WWF Youth organization has produced variety of materials to our ships that helps us to get the attention of our passengers. In addition, we share information about environmental impacts of food to our loyal customers and other passengers.  

Our suppliers are reliable and approved by authorities and to whom quality we can trust. The availability of the products is also a big factor on our decision making. In all our actions we aim to be as responsible as possible.

Drinking water on board is in separate water tanks and the quality is under strict monitoring of authorities. It is totally safe and environmentally friendly to fill your own water bottle instead of buying yet another plastic bottle of water.  

Finnish authorities are supervising vessels that operate under Finnish flag. In Tallink Group these vessels are Silja Serenade on Helsinki-Stockholm route and Baltic Princess on Turku-Stockholm route. The authorities of all destination countries Tallink Group is operating work closely together.

Safety regulations are controlled both internationally and locally. The border guard oversees maritime rescues and acts on preventing the environmental damages on the sea. Additionally, border guard is multidisciplinary maritime law enforcement authority.

Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom is auditing licences and registers of maritime safety. Internationally maritime safety is controlled by International Maritime Organization (IMO) that is operating under UN. In our operations we follow, among others, the instructions of the International Safety Management (ISM) and International Ship Port Facility Security (ISPS).
 

Safety trainings are operated on our ships weekly. Our staff is practising for example to put out the fire, evacuation of the ship, first aid skills, operating in the dark and using of different safety equipment’s.

Our company is pioneer on utilizing the ship simulators in training. The sea officers practise regularly for unexpected situations in ship simulator. Additionally, we run annual joined trainings together with maritime rescue authorities, police forces, fire department, harbor authorities and Traficom.

Sometimes also the 4 legged officers are training on our vessels. Read more about how the Police and Drug dogs took over Silja Serenade to train their professionalism in sniffing.
 

SecurePax project (1.1.2019-31.12.2023) is undertaking where digital safety services and solutions are piloted for the first time in maritime passenger terminals. The objective of the project is to ensure the sustainable and effective sea traffic in the long run. The partners of the project are Tallink Silja and Viking Line. The project gets funding from EU’s flagship programme Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).

Ensuring the safety of passenger transportation is especially challenging in core harbours of Turku and Stockholm. The ships operating between these two harbours has such shorts visits in port, only 1 hour, that the embarkation and disembarkation of foot passengers and loading and unloading of vehicles must be done without any delays to keep the vessels in their tight schedules. This limits greatly the possibilities of checking the passengers, vehicles and luggage.

SecurePax project aims to find solutions for this challenge. The best solutions and pilot technologies will be carried out in the new joint passenger terminal in Turku harbour when the project is finalized. The successful results will also be shared to other maritime operators in Europe. Tallink Silja passenger terminals in Turku and Stockholm harbours will execute several new untraditional digital safety and ICT solutions.

The most important goals in the project for Tallink Silja:
 

• Checking the identity of passengers in the passenger terminals and information exchange between authorities. This is done by mapping and testing the suitable technical solutions for registering the passenger information digitally.
• Investigate possibilities of preventing the unwanted passengers embarking the vessels together with authorities. For this the handling and practical reading of international vessels and port operations safety system (ISPS-code) will be clarified.
• Take into use solutions that detect passengers and dangerous objects in vehicles, luggage or with passengers. For this the available technics are investigated, suitable solutions are tired out and technical adequacy and obeying of the rules are being evaluated.

 

Kummit ry is a charity organization established on 1993. Organization supports five University Hospitals children’s departments in Finland with their development and research work and helps to improve the facilities in the hospitals as convenient as possible.
 

• Tallink Silja has been working together with Kummit Ry since 2011.
• Within cooperation we have enabled purchasing of different medical devices with 350 000 euros to Hospitals children’s departments in Helsinki, Turku and Tampere.
• Tallink Silja organizes memorable cruises for families with sick children and visit hospitals to cheer up the small patient’s hospital life.

 

Hope ry helps families with low income and victims of crisis by distributing clothes and goods for everyday life. Hope ry supports families also with childrens hobbies and leisure activities. In 2020 Hope ry helped altogether 9181 families and 22 274 children. Organization works on 20 locations around Finland and is run by volunteers.
 

• Tallink Silja started cooperation with Hope ry in 2017.
• Over the cooperation years we have donated 90 000 euros to support disadvantaged children and youngsters in their hobbies.
• We offer annual family cruises for Hope families.
• Our staff has donated clothes and goods for the families and participated joint events on Hope warehouse to help volunteers.
• Tallink Silja staff joins forces every Christmas to donate gifts for Hope families children. It is important for us, that every child gets at least one present for Christmas. In 2017 Tallink Silja also donated whole Christmas with meals, decorations and presents for three families.

Tallink Silja is the Official Seacarrier of The Santa Claus and official partner of The Santa Claus foundation. The Santa Claus Foundation gathers together partners with conscious work ethics and good morals. In return, the Santa Claus Foundation can bring hope and joy to the children who need it the most. Santa Claus emblem of good will label reflects the desire to help and make the world better.

Emblem means that product or service is an official Santa Claus Finland – service and is chosen by Santa himself. Santa Claus partners are producing their products and services with the greatest of care and highest ethics to give joy.

Examples of Gifts for children around the world operated by Santa’s charity:

• access for education
• donations for child psychiatry and care in epilepsy disorder and traffic injuries.
• clean water and healthy food for kids in Nairobi
• donation for school building in India
• overall wellbeing and awareness of kids and families in East Africa
• help the families with disabled children to live equal life to others
• Santa’s Good Will Tour to preschools in Finland and Asian countries

Read more about Santa Claus Foundation cooperation 

 

We have long term cooperation with several Junior sport clubs in Finland. We want to have an impact on creating a sporty lifestyle for every child. With other partners we want to enable reasonable hobby fees and trained coaches with professional training methods for the clubs.

At the moment Tallink Silja is partnering with Juniors in 3 Ice Hockey clubs in Finland: HIFK (Helsinki), Tappara (Tampere) and TPS (Turku) and one football club: HJK (Helsinki).
 

Blood donating has been part of Tallink Siljas’ responsibility work for years.
Tallink Silja has own blood group where staff make group trips to blood donating centers regularly. We want to remind the importance of blood donating also during exceptional conditions. The blood group has been awarded for its persistent blood donating by Red Cross Blood center for many years in a row.