"Over last few years we have been facing a constant deterioration on the Russian market. Unfortunately the political and economical situation is still dramatically affecting the commercial trade environment," the company said in a press release.

Finnlines further informed, "Despite the investments implemented to maintain the competitiveness and sustainability of the service TransRussiaExpress, regretfully we are forced to suspend it until a reasonable improvement of the market conditions will occur."

The company still operates the weekly St. Petersburg (Bronka)-Lübeck service.

In consequence, DFDS, who had a chartering space agreement with Finnlines on the ships serving the route in question, ceased to offer shipments between Kiel and St. Petersburg.

"We are very sorry for this situation, and even though we will now be looking for solutions to mitigate the consequences, it will unfortunately affect staff in both St Petersburg and Kiel, as well as our customers in Germany and Russia," Anders Refsgaard, Head of Business Unit Baltic, DFDS, commented.

He also said, "We also link our Russian market with Kiel via Klaipeda in Lithuania, and with Sweden from Paldiski in Estonia and therefore we will maintain a sales office in St Petersburg."

Photo: Finnlines