Stena Jutlandica, 7 October 2006

Stena Jutlandica

IMO 9125944
Built 1996, Van der Gissen de Noord Ijssel, Netherlands
Tonnage 29 691 GT
Length 182,35 m
Width 28,43 m
Draught 6,00 m
1 500 passengers
200 berths
550 cars or 122 trucks
600 metres railway tracks
4 MAN B&W diesels, combined 25 920 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 21,5 knots

Stena Line is a company known for - amongst other things - recycling the same names for ships serving on the same route. The current Stena Jutlandica is in fact the third ship with that name to sail on the Gothenburg-Frederikshavn route. When completed in 1996 she was in fact briefly named Stena Jutlandica III as the ship she replaced retained the name Stena Jutlandica for approximately a month after the delivery of the new Stena Jutlandica. (Confused already?) Very little else to say about this ship, actually. Since delivery she has remained on the same route without notable incidents or changes.

The photographs below show the Stena Jutlandica outbound from Gothenburg to Frederikshavn on 7 October 2006, photographed from onboard DFDS's Princess of Scandinavia. Click on the images for larger size.

Can't resist a little panoramic fiddling showing the Stena Jutlandica and the Swedish coastline.

Basically the Stena Jutlandica is just a ropax ferry without much thought put on her exterior design... but she looks surprisingly good all things considered.

Princess of Scandinavia interiors, 6-7 October 2006

Princess of Scandinavia

IMO 7361324
Name history: Tor Scandinavia, Princess of Scandinavia, Moby Otta
Built 1976, Lübecker Flender-Werke, West Germany
Tonnage 22 528 GT
Length 184,55 m
Width 26,40 m
Draugth 6,20 m
1 507 passengers
1 617 berths
420 cars
910 lanemetres
4 Pielstick diesels, combined 33 540 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 27 knots

Inside, the Princess of  Scandinavia posessed a similar feature as the Finnjet did during her later years: while most of her interiors had been rebuilt and were very stylish and up-to-date, she beautifully retained the feeling of being onboard a ship with a history. In the case of the Princess this was further enhanced by the extremely good care DFDS Seawyas had taken of the ship. In 2006 the 30-year old ship that was to be sold in less than a month was in a better condition inside than some year-old ships I've sailed on.

The photographs below were taken during a short Gothenburg-Kristiansand "party cruise" (and it was quite partyish too). As with the previous photos of this ship, these have been taken with a less good camera than my newer photos and as such the quality can be inferior to what you've usually seen here. Additionally the colours in several of the photos are severely distorted, due to the said camera taking terribly yellow-tinted photographs indoors. Furthermore, since I did not take notes on which space is decipted in which photograph, some of the spaces might be misindentified. I would appriciate any and all corrections.

Click on the individual images to view full size.

Firing up the engines on departure from Kristiansand in the morning of 7 October 2006.

Deck 9

Navigation bridge. Travelling in the company of the founder of Finnjetweb, the crew were kind enough to grant us a bridge visit. 7 October 2006.

Outdoors swimming pools are rare sights on North European ferries, but the Tor Britannia and Tor Scandinavia were built with such. The pool was closed in October of course, but climbing to deck 10 (which technically was out-of-bounds) gave nice view of the pool area. presulambly the pool has been put to good use during the ship's new Mediterranean career as the Moby Otta. 7 October 2006.

Deck 7

Forward hall on deck 7, between the commodore-class cabins and the night club. 6 October 2006.

Columbus night club with Swedish party cruisers. The two Finns, a Brit and German were on the other side of the camera. 6 October 2006.

I presume these are original 1970s artworks on the aft staircase (or possibly the midship staircase) on deck 7. 6 October 2006.

Deck 6

The arcade on port side of deck 8, connecting the Blue Riband a la carte restaurant to the Seven Seas buffet restaurant. Sadly I did not take any photographs inside the restaurants. The buffet retained some rather attractive original 1976 decorations. 6 October 2006.

Deck 5

The very chic elevator on Deck 5 central hall, facing aft. For an interesting contrast with this refined 2006-look, compare with the photograph of the (equally stylish but in a completely different way) original 1976 stylings from Fakta om Fartyg: M/S Tor Scandinavia inredning. 6 October 2006.

More of deck 5 central hall. Behind the information and bureau de change is/was the surprisingly small tax-.free shop. 6 October 2006

Deck 1

The bridge visit also gave us a chance to visit the engineering. The working spaces of the ship certainly gave a strong contrast to the sleek and clean looks of the ship's interiors elsewhere. 7 October 2006.

More of the engine room. 7 October 2006.

....and the trip is almost over: passing under the Älvsborg bridge en-route back to Gothenburg harbour.

Princess of Scandinavia, 6 October 2006

Princess of Scandinavia

IMO 7361324
Name history: Tor Scandinavia, Princess of Scandinavia, Moby Otta
Built 1976, Lübecker Flender-Werke, West Germany
Tonnage 22 528 GT
Length 184,55 m
Width 26,40 m
Draugth 6,20 m
1 507 passengers
1 617 berths
420 cars
910 lanemetres
4 Pielstick diesels, combined 33 540 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 27 knots

Following a trip to the archives, I present the long-promised photographs of DFDS Seaways' Princess of Scandinavia, sailing today as Moby Lines' Moby Otta (see that entry also for the history of the ship). In terms of her exterior appearance the second Tor sisters (the Princess of Scandinavia and her sister) had long been some of my favourite ships, with long, sleek streamlined looks and large, powerful funnels. Even with added side sponsons that would have destroyed the looks of most ships this pair looked very smart. Further delightful details include an outdoors sundeck, certainly a novelty on a North Sea ferry.

On hearing the news that DFDS Seaways would be closing down the Gothenburg-Newcastle in late 2006, me and three of my friends decided to travel to Gothenburg and take a trip with the ship before she would be sold to Moby Lines. There photographs, unsurpsingly, are from that trip. I will probably be posting some interior photographs from the same trip later on.

Princess of Scandinavia at Gothenburg on 6 October 2006. Please note that these pictures date from the time when I did not yet have a digital SLR camera and as such the image quality is less good than on most other photos I have posted here. Click on the individual images to view full size.

It looks like a brochure image from the Caribbean, but it's in fact a view from the Göta Ävlbron in Gothenburg. Notice how beautifully the raked "support beam" in the aft continues the in the curve of the funnel.

Another view in Gothenburg harbour. Outside she's showing a few small rust stains but inside she was in an immaculate condition.

SC Atlantic, 11 February 2011

SC Atlantic

IMO 8325432
Built 1986, Stocnia Szczecinska im A. Warskiego Szczecin, Poland
Tonnage 12 798 GT
Length 139,55 m
Width 21,00 m
Draught 5,60 m
236 passengers
236 berths
344 cars (?)
540 lanemeters (?)
4 Sulzer diesels, combined 12 800 kW
2 propellers
1 bow thruster
2 stern thrusters (?)
Speed 18 knots

My third encounter with the Dmitriy Shostakovich -classer SC Atlantic was recently in wintery St. Petersburg, where she was laid up by the channel leading to the Morskoy Vokzal passenger terminal alongside a group of freighters, looking quite forlorn. (The photographs from the second encounter you've already seem - the 1st encounter was last summer in weather conditions that were too poor to yield displayable photographs). As indicated in the previous entry, I do not know if S-Continental are planning to reactivate the ship for the 2011 summer season or not. She is still listed on the company website at least.

Photographs from 11 February 2011, taken from onboard St. Peter Line's Princess Maria. Click on the individual photos to view full size.

A bunch of laid up ships and... what's that familiar-looking thing in the distance? The ships are, left to right: Dutch Mariner, the aptly named Frost 5, Forline I and SC Atlantic.

She hasn't been moving in a while, judging by the unbroken ice around her.

It was cold and snowflakes keps getting in the photos, but it was still worth it. Except maybe for the flu I got as a result of hanging out too much in the cold outdoors.

Full frontal forsted SC Atlantic.

Viking Cinderella, 9 February 2011

Viking Cinderella

IMO 8719188
Built 1989, Wärtsilä Marine Turku, Finland
Tonnage 46 398 GT
Length 191,00 m
Width 29,00 m
Draught 6,74 m
2560 passengers
2500 berths
480 cars or 60 trucks (in cruise service parking space for 100 cars)
760 lanemeters
4 Sulzer diesels, combined 28 800 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 22 knots

Viking Cinderella has been something of a hidden gem regarding this blog thus far, as she's one of my all-time favourite Baltic Sea cruiseferries and yet she hasn't been featured here until now.

The Cinderella, as she was originally known, started life as something of a speculative venture. The Finnish Wärtsilä Marine shipyard that had built most of the ferries for Finland-Sweden services during the early 1980s had lost the bid for building SF Line's newbuildings Amorella and Isabella to the Yugoslavian Brodosplit shipyard, in part due to the fact they refused to give SF Line an equal treatment with the Silja Line owners Effoa and Johnson Line who repeatedly got better terms for their newbuilds as the owners of Viking Line.

Things changed when the US-based Admiral Cruises (in which, interestingly, Effoa and Johnson Line were minority shareholders) cancelled their order for a cruise ship with Wärtsilä in 1986. Having a free slot in their schedule for a ship to be completed in 1989, Wärtsilä now contacted SF Line, probing their interest for the construction of a new cruiseferry based on the design of the Mariella, completed in 1985. SF Line were interested, but the building slot offered meant the ship had to be designed in about one third of the time usually given to the design process. Despite this the resulting ship was and is extremely successful in terms of design of it's passenger spaces. However, according to rumours there were design mistakes made regarding her cargo-carrying facilities and supposedly her car deck cannot be fully loaded without endangering safety. I cannot comment on the factuality of these claims.

As was common with all newbuildings ordered by SF Line, the company demanded special securities in the build contract for the Cinderella. Instead of the usual arrangement where the ownership of a ship passes from the shipyard to the shipping company only upon completion, SF Line would take ownership of the ship as she was completed. The contract for building the Cinderella was signed in 1987 and construction begun the following year.

In October 1989, when the Cinderella was nearing completion, Wärtsilä Marine went bankrupt. After short but intense negotiations the special clauses demanded by SF Line for the build contract were deemed to be valid and the Cinderella was removed from the bankrupt's estate and formally delivered to SF Line, technically making her the last ship every to be delivered by Wärtsilä Marine. Finalising the ship's outfitting continued for another week and in November 1989 the Cinderella finally entered service on Viking Line's Helsinki-Stockholm service.

Originally SF Line had planned to place the Cinderella on Helsinki-Stockholm service in place of the Mariella which would have moved to a new, more freight-oriented Helsinki-Norrköping service. However, in the end the Cinderella was placed a third ship on the Helsinki-Stockholm route with three weeksly return sailings departing 1,5 hours later than the normal ships and a 25 hour cruise from Helsinki to Tallinn roads on Sundays. The short cruises proved very popular and subsequently they were also made on Fridays and Saturdays.

In 1993, following the bankruptcy of the other Viking Line partner Rederi AB Slite (for details see this entry on Silja Europa), the Cinderella was placed on the regular Helsinki-Stockholm service, running parallel to the Mariella in place of the Olympia lost in the bankruptcy. At the end of the 1994 summer season the Cinderella swapped places with the Isabella, moving back to the 24-hour cruise service from Helsinki. For the summer seasons 1995 and 1996 she moved to the Turku-Mariehamn-Stockholm service in place of the Rosella to increase capacity during the high season. The Rosella in turn moved on the shorter summer service from Naantali to Kapellskär. This summer juggling was discontinued when Viking purchased the Gabriella in 1997 and from thereone the Cinderella stayed around the year on the cruise service from Helsinki, now shortened to just 20 hours and with an actual call at Tallinn added.

During the next millennium the Cinderella made occasional cruises from Helsinki to Riga as well. However, the accession of Estonia into the EU in 2004 and the resulting loss of tax-free sales on the Helsinki-Tallinn route made Viking decide to change the Cinderella's route. At the end of the 2003 summer season she was withdrawn from service, rebuilt in Naantali to be better suiter for the Swedish cruise market, repainted with a white hull, re-registered in Sweden and renamed Viking Cinderella (the name change was dictated by nescessity as a Cinderella already existed in the Swedish registry. A large portion of Viking Line's marketing material continue referring to her as simply "Cinderella", though this is not consistent). Later in 2003 the Viking Cinderella entered service on the Stockholm-Mariehamn 22-hour cruise route, replacing the Rosella that in turn moved to the Helsinki-Tallinn route.

Since 2003 the Viking Cinderella has remained on the Stockholm-Mariehamn cruise service, with occasionally summer cruises to Tallinn and Riga. In autumn 2011 she will return to the Turku-Stockholm service as a temporary replacement during the Amorella's docking.

The photographs below show the Viking Cinderella arriving in Stockholm on 9 February 2011. Click on the image(s) to view full size.

The wintertime afternoon sunlight creates an interesting effect on the water.

The Viking Cinderella is unsymmetrical on the exterior, on the starboard side there's a five-deck high panoramic window on the middle of the superstructure. For some reason not even a fake version of the same was made on the port side.

Notice that the large hull text reads plain Cinderella and not the full name. While the all-white livery is very chic, in my opinion (and that of many others) the ship looked better and less box-like in the traditional red-hulled Viking colours.

Cathing the sun. Unfortunately the sun was so low that in all other pictures of the ship I took from the rear direction large portions of her are in the shade.

Birger Jarl, 9 February 2011

Birger Jarl

IMO 5044893
Built 1953, Finnboda Varv Nacka, Sweden
Tonnage 3 564 GT
Length 92,50 m
Width 14,28 m
Draught 5,50 m
Ice class 1C
369 passengers
369 berths
1 MAN-B&W diesel, 2 795 kW
1 propeller
1 bow thruster
Speed 15,50 knots

Birger Jarl is a veritable relic that continues sailing only due to an exemption granted from SOLAS 2010 requirements. The Birger Jarl (also her original name) was planned as one of three similar but not identical ships built by Finland Steamship Company (FÅA), Steamship Company Bore and Rederi AB Svea for their joint service between Helsinki and Stockholm. All ships were planned to be in service by the 1952 Summer Olympics, held in Helsinki, but in the end only FÅA's Aallotar was delivered in time. Rederi AB Svea's Birger Jarl did not enter service until the summer of 1953. She was used on the Helsinki-Stockholm service during the summer months and during the winters (when the ice situation made sailing on the capital route difficult) on the Turku-Mariehamn-Stockholm route. As built the ship had a quadruple-expansion steam engine and the accommodation was still class-divided. Additionally she had no cardeck, though a maximum of 30 cars could be loaded onboard using a lifting crane.

In 1970 FÅA, Bore and Svea rearranged their Finland-Sweden passenger operations under the Silja Line marketing name, and Silja Line texts along with the famous seal's head logo was painted on the ship's hull. In autumn 1971 the Birger Jarl sailed for the last time on the Helsinki-Stockholm route; the following spring she was replaced by the new purpose-built ice-breaking ferries Aallotar (not be confused with the 1952 Aallotar) and Svea Regina. After that the Birger Jarl was used on cruise service between Stockholm and Mariehamn until spring 1973, when she was sold to the Steamship Company Bore -affiliated Jakob Line for services across the Bay of Bothnia.

The Birger Jarl was rebuilt with a small side-loadable car deck and renamed Bore Nord before entering service for Jakob Lines. During 1973 she served between Pietarsaari and Skellefteå but was apparently not fully satisfactory on this route, as she was to spend the next three years under various charters to Bore and Silja Line, as well a stint as an accommodation ship in Norway. For the 1977 summer season the Bore Nord again sailed on the Pietarsaari-Skellefteå route, but later that year she passed under Steamship Company Bore ownership as a part payment for the larger passenger steamer Bore. The Bore Nord was almost immediately resold to Minicarriers for a planned Stockholm-Mariehamn service and renamed Minisea (this name was never actually painted on the ship's hull). The planned service never materialized and the ship was laid up in Mariehamn.

In 1978 the Minisea was sold to Caribbean Shipping Company for conversion into the cruise ship Baltic Star. In 1979 she again started sailing on the Stockholm-Mariehamn cruise service, now under charter to Ånedin Linjen. Unusually for a ship serving on the Baltic Sea, the Baltic Star was registered in Panama. In 1982 the Baltic Star was refitted with a diesel engine at Fredrikshavn Værft. This engine was apparently not entirely successful as the ship suffered an engine failure just two months after the conversion and in 1989 she returned to Fredrikshavn Værft for the replacement of the old diesel engine with a second, more powerful one. In 1987 she had also been docked at Rauma where addition cabins were placed on the forward deck.

After spending almost quarter of a century under the name Baltic Star, in 2002 the ship was sold to Rederi AB Allandia and subsequently reverted back to her original name Birger Jarl. In October 2010 she was withdrawn from service due to the new SOLAS 2010 regulations. However, just a few days afterwards she recieved an exemption from the regulation that allowed her to continue sailing for at least six months. Earlier that year the Birger Jarl had been declared culturally valuable ("K-marked") by the Swedish states maritime museum. Whether or not this had an effect on her SOLAS exemption I do not know.

The photographs below show the Birger Jarl arriving in Stockholm on the afternoon of 9 February 2011, photographed from onboard Viking Line's Mariella. Click on the images to view full size.

A not very winterly-looking winter's day for some reason (though it was quite cold). My friend remarked the day was resembled more a spring day in April than February.

Notice that the ship still (again) carries Rederi AB Svea bow markings, despite having no affiliation with the now-disappeared company. I wonder if the S in her funnel is also a refence to RAB Svea's funnel symbol.

Passing Gröna Lunden amusement park en route to Skeppsbron.

SC Atlantic, 10 July 2010

SC Atlantic

IMO 8325432
Built 1986, Stocnia Szczecinska im A. Warskiego Szczecin, Poland
Tonnage 12 798 GT
Length 139,55 m
Width 21,00 m
Draught 5,60 m
236 passengers
236 berths
344 cars (?)
540 lanemeters (?)
4 Sulzer diesels, combined 12 800 kW
2 propellers
1 bow thruster
2 stern thrusters
Speed 18 knots

SC Atlantic is a cruise ship aimed at the Russian market (though to my knowledge she is currently laid up). She was built in 1986 for the Soviet Union's Fast Eastern Shipping Company (FESCO) as Konstantin Chernenko. She was the last ship of the seven-strong Dmitriy Shostakovich -class to be built and was named after the fifth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, who had ruled the country for barely 13 months in 1984-1985. On completion the Konstantin Chernenko was placed traffic from Vladivostok to (at least) Japan and Korea. In 1986 she was renamed into Russ.

I have been able to discover very little information on the movements of Russ after the fall of the Soviet Union (though I admit I haven't been looking very actively). She appears to have stayed with FESCO until 1997, and at least in 1993 she is known to have been in the Baltic as she visited Helsinki at least once during that year. In 1997-1999 she sailed for LS Redereja on a Stockholm-Riga service under charter from FESCO. In 2000-2001 she seems to have served between Odessa and Haifa and later in the decade again between Vladivostok and Japan.

In 2010 the Russ was rebuilt in Italy as the cruise ship SC Atlantic for a new Baltic cruise service planned by the Russian company S-Continental. In July she entered service, doing cruises with the itenerary St. Petersburg-Helsinki-Stockholm-Tallinn-St Petersburg. These were apprently not a resounding success as already in the next month the service was amended into short cruises from St. Petersburg to Kotka in Finland. S-Continental's website still state the ship is operating on the four-city Baltic cruises, but the last I saw her (in February 2011) she was laid up in St. Petersburg. It remains to be seen if the ship will be reactivated for the 2011 summer season and what her route will be.

The photographs below show the SC Atlantic on her first visit to Helsinki under that name, moored at Katajanokka cruise quay on 10 July 2010. Click on the images to view full size.

Quite rusty on the port side... though she looks less worse for wear than when I saw her calling at Länsisatama four days before.

Boxy Soviet design at it's best. I wonder if there's a lifeboat drill going on or if they're actually using the lifeboat a platform for painting the ship? Because the crewmen standing there look like they're doing something to the hull...

Star, 11 April 2008

Star

IMO 9364722
Built 2007, Aker Finnyards Helsinki, Finland
Tonnage 36 250 GT
Length 186,00 m
Width 27,70 m
Draught 6,50 m
Ice class 1A
1 900 passengers
520 berths
450 cars
1 981 lanemeters
4 MaK diesels, combined 48 000 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
1 stern thruster
Speed 27,7 knots

The Star shortly after departing from Helsinki's Länsisatama on 11 April 2008, photographed from Hernesaari. Click on the individual images to view full size.

The bulbous bow is an interesting invention. And it can certainly provide for very cool photographs from time to time.

Hernesaari is, unfortunately, far from an ideal place for photographs... at least in the afternoons which is when I'm usually up and about enough to take photographs. That said, this isn't a bad shot at all.

Star in the sun.