According to the 2023 EPSI Passenger Transport Ferries survey, conducted in Finland, Sweden and Estonia, two thirds of respondents are prepared to pay more in order to reduce environmental impact.
The survey showed that Finnish maritime passengers ranked Viking Line as the most sustainable shipping company in service between Finland and Sweden, while nearly 50% of those who completed the survey said they will choose even more climate-smart transport modes in the future.
Viking Line received the best marks in all parts of the sustainability index: economic, social and environmental sustainability. The index is part of EPSI Rating’s broad Passenger Transport Survey 2023, for which 928 Finnish maritime passengers were interviewed. The other shipping companies examined in service between Finland and Sweden were FinnLines and Silja Line.
Dani Lindberg, sustainability manager Viking Line said: “We are proud of our ranking, because we have carried out focused environmental work since the 1980s and also take into consideration the other aspects of sustainability in all our operations. It is very encouraging that, according to the survey, our passengers have the greatest expectations in terms of sustainable development – and they are also the most satisfied with our communication on sustainability. In order to make sustainable choices, people need knowledge, and we want to give our passengers more and more of this every year.”
51% of respondents indicated that they take the climate and environmental impact of their travel into account. 46% intend to choose transport modes that are even more climate-smart in the future, while 31% plan to reduce their travel.
Lindberg continued: “One of our biggest environmental initiatives this year is that we offer our passengers and will soon offer our cargo customers the chance to purchase biofuel to offset the fuel used on their trip. When a passenger booking a trip chooses biofuel, greenhouse gas emissions from their journey are reduced by as much as 90% compared to the other fuels that our vessels use. A full 68 per cent of those who completed the EPSI survey indicated that they are prepared to pay for reduced emissions. On a cruise between Turku and Stockholm, the biogas supplement per passenger is scarcely €5, so we think this new option will satisfy our customers’ wishes really well.”
