EU – Baltic States, Lithuania, Port, Transport

"We are under pressure due to the capacity drop on the Klaipeda-Kiel route. It’s easier with passengers as now is not a holiday season and ships are not filled. But we lack freight capacity, and we are looking into various options, including leasing a substitute ferry but there are not that many of them on the market. Perhaps, we can move one from another route but that's also not easy to do," Vaidas Kumbys, spokeswoman for DFDS Seaways, told.

In his words, the company is considering introducing some changes to the Klaipeda-Kiel and Klaipeda-Karlshamn schedules.

"I think certain decisions can be expected early next week, probably on Tuesday," he said.

Regina Seaways, the ferry that caught fire, is now undergoing inspection to identify the cause of the failure and plan its repairs.

"The visual inspection showed the failure was in the area of the engine's four cylinder but we need several days to identify the cause of it. We've had cases when we needed several months to identify the cause," Klumbys told.

The incident on the DFDS Seaways ferry was reported on Tuesday afternoon after smoke was spotted coming out of the engine room. According to Klumbys, mechanics in the engine room did not sea fire but used carbon dioxide gas as a precaution to prevent a potential fire risk.

The ferry arrived in Klaipeda late on Tuesday, using one of its engines. All 335 people onboard, mainly German citizens, were unharmed.