Finnlines Denied Right to Appeal in Fairway Dues Dispute against Finland

The Finnish Supreme Court did not grant Finnlines the leave to appeal on the fairway dues dispute with the Finnish state, the Finnish ferry operator said.

As a result, the Helsinki Court of Appeal decision from August 2016 remains in force.

The dispute relates to Finnlines’ claim that State of Finland should refund the ferry operator EUR 17 million (USD 18.8 million), as ruled by the District Court in February 2015.

However, the ruling was dismissed by the judgment of the Helsinki Court of Appeals, as the company’s claims had expired.

Under the previous judgment made by the District Court, Finland was to pay more than USD 100 million to a number of shipping companies, after 52 foreign and Finnish shipping firms filed claims for excessive fairway dues.

The same decision was made on AS Tallink Grupp’s request for appeal to Helsinki Court of Appeal’s judgment on not granting the shipowners the disputed fairways dues.

Namely, on December 8, 2017, the Finnish Supreme Court decided that Tallink and its group company AS Hansatee Cargo would not be grant appeal rights to the refund decision.

The alleged excessive fairway dues date back to the 2001-2004 period.

World Maritime News Staff