Ferry traffic resumes between St. Petersburg and Helsinki

ST. PETERSBURG, August 2 (Itar-Tass) -- A regular ferry line will
begin operation between St. Petersburg and Baltic capitals on Saturday.

The Julia ferry belonging to the Stella Lines Company will make its first voyage from St. Petersburg to Finland. The ferry used to cruise between Norway and Denmark under the name of "Christian 4".

Andrei Mushkarev, the deputy general director of the "Inflot Worldwide
SPb" company, said that the Julia would cruise three times a week. The
ferry will operate all year round. It can take 400 cars and 1,500
passengers onboard.
Mushkarev believes that all the participants in the ferry business are
optimistic about plans to allow ferry passengers to go down on shore in
St. Petersburg without visas for 72 hours. The absence of a relevant law
has been depriving St. Petersburg of ferry traffic with foreign countries
for three years. Such a law may be adopted in September.
In the early 1990s, the Baltic Shipping Company controlled the ferry
business. Its ferries - "The Anna Karenina", "The Ilyich" and "The
Konstantin Simonov" - made regular voyages between St. Petersburg and
Baltic capitals. But soon the voyages stopped.
In 2004-2005, Estonian and Finnish companies launched regular ferry
lines but later abandoned their projects. In summer season, those
companies carried up to 150,000 passengers.