Ferries (really large car-carrying cruise ships) once sailed back and forth between St. Petersburg and Stockholm, Helsinki, Riga and Kiel. Cars could also go on most of the ferries. Cruise ship-ferries left from the PASSENGER TERMINAL on Morskoy Slavy Ploshchad on Vasilevskiy Ostrov. Best reached by taxi or trolley buses 10 & 12.
In early 1996, however, the Baltic Sea Shipping Line ran into financial difficulties and several ships were seized for non- payment. Thus the "Ilich" and "Konstantin Simonov" are not currently in service, and "Anna Karenina" was returned to its owner. There currently is no Baltic Sea passenger ferry service from Saint Petersburg.
A new company the "Baltic Transport Systems" began to ship cargo (cars, trucks and containers) by ferry between St. Petersburg and Kiel. The company uses its "Akvaloni" and "Inzhener Machulskiy" ferries.