Kihnu Veeteed ("Kihnu Waterways") is a ferry company which operates eight routes in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. It is registered on the island of

Kihnu Kihnu is an island in the Baltic Sea. With an area of it is the largest island in the Gulf of Riga and the seventh largest island of Estonia. The length of the island is and width , the highest point is at above sea level. The island belongs ...

in the

Gulf of Riga The Gulf of Riga, Bay of Riga, or Gulf of Livonia ( lv, Rīgas līcis, et, Liivi laht) is a bay of the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Estonia. The island of Saaremaa (Estonia) partially separates it from the rest of the Baltic Sea. The main c ...

, and runs a fleet of eight passenger ferries.Kihnu Veeteed.
Retrieved 5 September 2019. The company's ferries provide connections between the mainland and the small islands of

Manilaid Manilaid is a Estonian islet in the Gulf of Riga, located between the island of Kihnu and the mainland's Tõstamaa peninsula. Together with the neighbouring smaller uninhabited islets Sorgu and Annilaid, Manilaid forms the village of Manija. ...

Ruhnu Ruhnu ( sv, Runö; german: Runö; lv, Roņu sala) is an Estonian island in the Gulf of Riga in the Baltic Sea. It is administratively part of Saare County but is geographically closer to the Latvian mainland. At , it has currently fewer than 10 ...

Vormsi Vormsi, also Ormsö ( sv, Ormsö, german: Worms) is the fourth-largest island of Estonia. It is located between Hiiumaa and the mainland and has a total area of . It is part of Vormsi Parish, a rural municipality. Etymology Ormsö in Swedish ...

Aegna Aegna is an Estonian island in the Bay of Tallinn in the Baltic Sea. Administratively it is part of the city of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia and is a sub district of the Kesklinn (City center) district. Geography Aegna island has an ...

and

Piirissaar Piirissaar (earlier ''Borka'', russian: Межа, translit=Mezha or Желачек, romanized: Zhelachek) is an Estonian island located in Lake Peipus. It belongs to Tartu County as the Tartu Parish. Piirissaar is the largest island in Lake ...

. There is also a connection between the country's two largest islands,

Saaremaa Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring . The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island and west of Muhu island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago. The capital of the isla ...

and

Hiiumaa Hiiumaa (, ) is the second largest island in Estonia and is part of the West Estonian archipelago, in the Baltic Sea. It has an area of 989 km2 and is 22 km from the Estonian mainland. Its largest town is Kärdla. It is located within ...

. The ferry lines are operated on the basis of

public procurement Government procurement or public procurement is the procurement of goods, services and works on behalf of a public authority, such as a government agency. Amounting to 12 percent of global GDP in 2018, government procurement accounts for a sub ...

contracts, and most of the company's vessels are owned by the Estonian state, and specially built for these routes. In addition, the Kihnu Maritime Fleet also owns two passenger ferries, "Amalie" and "Reet", which are used as back-up vessels. The company's newest vessel is "Soela", which like its sister ships "Ormsö" and "Kihnu Virve" was built by

Baltic Workboats Baltic Workboats AS is an Estonian shipbuilding company with shipyards in Nasva, Estonia and Tampa, Florida, the United States. Baltic Workboats has built more than 200 different sized boats and vessels for pilots, coast guards, police, fisher ...

in Nasva, Estonia. Soela entered service between Sõru and Triigi in 2017, and can accommodate up to 200 passengers and 22 cars. In 2019, Kihnu Veeteed took part in negotiations with

Saaremaa Municipality Saaremaa Municipality, also known as Saaremaa Rural Municipality ( et, Saaremaa vald), is a municipality in Saare County in western Estonia. It is the largest municipality in Estonia by land area. The administrative centre of the municipality is i ...

to provide a ferry service between Mõntu on Saaremaa and

Ventspils Ventspils (; german: Windau, ; see other names) is a state city in northwestern Latvia in the historical Courland region of Latvia, and is the sixth largest city in the country. At the beginning of 2020, Ventspils had a population of 33,906. It ...

in Latvia but it was decided the company did not have the right ships to offer the service. In July 2020 the Estonian Road Administration signed a new contract with Kihnu Veeteed to provide services on its existing routes from 2021. The shipping companies TS Laevad and Tuule Liinid had also tendered to operate the routes.EER Uudised. ''Väikesaarte laevaliiklust hakkab korraldama Kihnu Veeteed.'' (in Estonian)
Retrieved 14 August 2020

References

Ferry companies of Estonia {{Estonia-stub

See also

References