Stena Buys Scandlines

Ferry operator Stena Line has purchased smaller Swedish ferry group Scandlines AB from the state owned railway group SJ for $67.1 million. Scandlines, with 1,180 staff, runs ferries on five routes from Helsingborg and Trelleborg in southern Sweden to Helsingor and Copenhagen in Denmark, and to Sassnitz, Rostock and Travemunde in Germany. Stena Line officials said the opening of the Oresund Bridge in July 2000, linking Sweden and Denmark, would have a damaging effect on Scandlines' operations. The ferry group had already closed a Limhamn-Dragor service, and Helsingborg-Copenhagen ferries were to stop next July. However, the number of passengers, cars and freight vehicles in southern Sweden had been significant in recent years, and the group has a long-term goal to gain a favorable position in the region, officials said.