"There is still a very real danger ... and we've asked ships to take an alternative route," Ann Ericsson of the Swedish Maritime Administration's ice breaker unit, told AFP.

A number of vessels, including several passenger ferries shuttling as many as 1,000 passengers each between Sweden, Finland and Estonia, were stranded Thursday just outside the Stockholm archipelago, where freezing winds had pushed thick ice towards the coast.

A warning for the area was issued at 5:15 pm (1615 GMT) Thursday after a number of large vessels had already got stuck, Ericsson said, adding that "that warning is still in effect. I have no idea for how long."

Two ice breakers failed to free the large Amorella passenger ferry and several other ferries on Thursday, forcing them to wait for the larger Ymer ice breaker to sail down from the Bay of Bothnia in the north.

There it had been working to free more than 40 cargo ships and commercial vessels, some of which had been stuck for days, and in one case since last Saturday, according to the maritime administration.

No more ships were stuck in the ice, but a number of vessels had been asked to find safe places to wait for assistance from ice breakers before continuing on their routes, Ericsson said.

"They're waiting for help, but none of them are stuck," she said, adding that the winds had died down and conditions at sea had become easier.

Nonetheless, seven Swedish and four Finnish ice breakers were still clearing the way for ships to make voyages, Swedish radio reported.

The Amorella, which has the capacity to carry up to 1,313 passengers and crew, collided with a Finnfellow ferry trapped nearby while trying to free itself from the ice.

Its owner Viking Line however insisted no damage was done to the ship and that there had at no time been any danger to passengers.

People on the Amorella were requested to move to the front of the boat to avoid any collision impact, according to Mats Nystroem, one of the passengers.

The two ships "were simply drifting towards each other," he told Swedish public radio from the stranded ferry.

Finnfellow passenger Tapio Sippo told Finnish tabloid Ilta-Sanomat that "there was a big crash."

"The staff panicked more than us tough truck drivers," he added.

The Swedish Maritime Administration on Friday voiced criticism that a number of large ferries had not heeded its warning and had stuck to the shorter but treacherous route out of the Stockholm archipelago.

"We always try to direct traffic along the simplest route and we're there to help if there are any difficulties. But then you have those who think they can just make their own decisions," Johny Lindvall, also of the Swedish Maritime Administration's ice breaker unit, told Swedish radio.

"Others suffer for their mistakes," he added, pointing out that the need to redirect an ice breaker from the north to rescue the stranded ferries had left numerous other vessels without assistance.

"Last night showed that if we say one should not traffic an area, (ignoring our advice) will bring consequences," agreed Ymer ice breaker captain Kenneth Wahlberg.

"No more ships are trying to enter this area," he told Swedish radio.

Viking Line meanwhile charged that Thursday's warning had been issued too late to do any good.

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