Finnish ferry company Viking Line says it is re-evaluating security protocols in light of a shooting last week, but hasn't yet made any final decisions.
A man was severely injured after being shot in the head by another passenger while on a cruise from Turku, Finland to Stockholm, Sweden on Friday, 15 December.
The violent incident was an extremely rare occurrence in the ferry company's long history of service, and both the firm and the authorities are considering taking measures to improve security.
However, the ferry firm says it does not have concrete plans to raise its level of preparedness or to implement stricter passenger screenings.
An official investigation is being carried out by authorities and the company is conducting its own internal investigation into last week's shooting incident, according to Viking Line's maritime safety inspector Juri Jalava.
Jalava said the company is constantly examining its security routines and that an event like last week's incident has prompted the company to look at current security practices and how they can be improved.
Stricter measures considered, but no major changes yet
Since the shooting the cruise line has not yet raised the number of security guards on board its vessels, but according to Jalava, Viking Line may need to reconsider its security methods.
Viking Line said last week that this was the first time a gun was fired aboard one of its ships in its nearly 60-year history.
Jalava said that some 217 million passengers have travelled on Viking Line ships since the ferry company started shuttling people around the Baltic Sea in 1959, and that one cannot rule out the possibility that weapons were carried on board at some point during that time.
"This type of thing could happen even if security was tougher, it's difficult to make the system foolproof even if passenger security controls are at 100 percent," he said.
There are three levels of security implemented and decided by authorities, Jalava said. At the first security level random spot checks are carried out. On Grace, the company's flagship with a capacity of nearly 3,000 passengers, a 100 percent security check would require that passengers arrive to the terminal at least two hours before departure.
A 100-percent security check of all passengers would also require a large amount of resources and ships would not travel as smoothly as they do now, Jalava said.
Last week's shooting
The shooting took place in Swedish waters as the ship was cruising towards Stockholm, according to Sweden's national broadcaster SVT and the local tabloid Expressen.
A call to rescue services went out at about 1:50 am, but since the ship was closer to Finland's autonomous Åland islands, Finnish authorities were contacted first. However, since the helicopter trip was shorter to Sweden, the case was shortly thereafter taken over by Swedish officials.
The victim, who was described as severely injured, was transported by helicopter to Karolinska hospital in Stockholm, according to Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet.
According to media reports several police units were waiting for the ferry when it arrived in Stockholm. Two individuals were taken into custody by Swedish authorities, and charges of attempted murder are reportedly being considered.