FRS Finland has secured a 15-year public transport contract to operate the Kalkkiranta–Bodö–Pörtö route in the Porvoo archipelago, east of Helsinki, with services due to begin on 1 September 2027.
The contract, awarded through a public tender process, covers year-round operations connecting the mainland with Pörtö, an island located around ten kilometres from the Finnish coast.
During the ice-free season, the route will be served by a fully electric passenger ferry built by Finnish shipbuilder Callboats in Vaasa. The CAT 16 vessel will carry up to 58 passengers and is designed to be fully accessible.
The ferry is expected to enter service next year. This will introduce Finland’s first electric passenger vessel of this size into regular scheduled service.
In winter, operations will continue using the icebreaker Pörtö, which is due to undergo refurbishment of its passenger facilities, alongside a hovercraft service.
Tim Kunstmann, Managing Director of the FRS Europe Division, said:We are very pleased that the Finnish government has created the framework conditions for emission-free transport and that we have found an innovative European technology partner in Callboats.
The new vessel will also include autonomous navigation support technology. While crew members will remain on board, the system will assist with route monitoring, manoeuvring and docking.
Peter Östberg, Managing Director of Callboats, said:It uses a combination of different sensors that enable it to detect obstacles under almost all conditions, often even better than humans.
FRS Finland has been working to reduce emissions across its operations for several years and already uses biodiesel on a number of routes. Biodiesel will also be used during winter operations on the Pörtö service.
The FRS Ferry Group, headquartered in Flensburg, Germany, operates more than 70 vessels worldwide through 14 subsidiaries in Europe, North America and the Caribbean. In Finland, the company operates 18 vessels in the Helsinki metropolitan area, including services to the island fortress of Suomenlinna.
The group also operates ferry services in northern Germany, inland passenger shipping services around Rügen and Rostock, and solar-electric ferries in Berlin. Its offshore wind operations include the hydrogen-powered crew transfer vessel Hydrocat 55.
