Estonia, Good for Business, Latvia, Port, Tourism, Transport

"The meeting that took place in Ventspils was intended to demonstrate on the level of the Saaremaa municipality that we are very much interested in a relaunch of the Montu-Ventspils ship route, particularly as representatives of Ventspils have displayed interest on their part as well," the governor of the Saaremaa municipality, Madis Kallas, said.

According to Kallas, the options being considered do not include a high-speed vessel. The aim is to launch the connection with a ferry capable of carrying also cars in the summer of 2019, and the length of the period of operation would be three and a half months from May to mid-August.

Kallas also said that they are putting a lot of hope on tourists from Lithuania, many of whom would extend their journey to Estonia if such a connection existed.

He said that Saaremaa is conducting the search for a suitable vessel.

"Since Saaremaa commissioned the survey about the ferry service, we are also on the lookout for a suitable boat based on the data retrieved from the survey," Kallas said.

Aside from Kallas, the initiator of the ferry service survey, Jaanis Prii, and member of the Saaremaa council Mihkel Undrest took part in the meeting in Ventspils.

According to a study about the viability of a boat service between Estonia's largest island and Latvia, commissioned by the NGO Saarte Koostookogu from the company OU Arenguruum, opening a ferry service would be socioeconomically profitable but would rather be unprofitable when carried out on a commercial basis alone.

The study examined the possibilities of opening the Montu-Ventspils and Kuressaare-Riga ferry routes. The company AS Kihnu Veeteed with the vessel Reet is interested in the Montu-Ventspils route and Sea Wolf Express OU with the vessel A-902 is interested in the Roomassaare-Riga route.

According to the study, based on an optimistic scenario, the Montu-Ventspils route would need an annual subsidy of more than 100,000 euros in the first years, but would become self-sufficient within eight years. Based on a pessimistic scenario, the necessary sum of support would be approximately 300,000 euros per year.

The study said that based on an optimistic scenario, opening the Montu-Ventspils route would entail socio-economic income for Saaremaa from tourism in the amount of 2-3 million euros per year and on the basis of a conservative scenario it would total 1-2 million euros per year. In a positive case, the ferry route would bring 10,000-20,000 more tourists per year to Estonia's biggest island, while the number of additional tourists in the worst case would be 7,000-11,000.

According to the study, granting state aid would be possible if the support is given for up to three years and the route becomes self-sufficient as a result. As a second option, the study highlights the possibility of organizing a public tender, which would not count as state aid if it is carried out on a market basis.

According to the study whose findings were published in March, tourism in the Baltic Sea region is increasing. Saaremaa and Ventspils are important tourist destinations in their respective countries and are interested in being a part of the development that accompanies tourism growth. This is why the local governments of Saaremaa and Ventspils and entrepreneurs involved in tourism, including port operators, are strongly interested in restarting the erstwhile Montu-Ventspils ferry route. In addition, Saaremaa is interested in opening ferry service in the direction of Riga as the largest city of the Baltics.