Translandia in Tallinn, 27 March 2011

A short PSA before we get into today's subject: by the looks of it I will be very busy for the rest of the month with studies and travel. Because of this Kships will probably be updated less frequently for the next month or so than has been the norm until now (you may have noticed, I've been trying to update every four days or so). But now, onwards to today's subject:

Translandia

IMO 7429229
Former names: Transgermania, Rosebay, Eurostar, Eurocruiser, Rosebay, Transparaden
Built 1976, J.J. Sietas Werft Hamburg, West Germany
Tonnage 13 700 GT
Length 135,49 m
Width 21,71 m
Draugth 6,46 m
100 passengers
63 berths
1624 lane metres
2 MAN diesels, combined 9312 kW
2 propellers
Speed 19 knots

Another neglected image from last year, this one from a short cruise I made with various friends to Tallinn in spring 2011 on Viking Line's Rosella when she briefly returned to the route in place of the Viking XPRS which was being drydocked. I didn't get much in the way of acceptable-queality photographs from the Rosella, apart from this wintery image of the Translandia in Tallinn harbour. For a brief history of the Translandia, see this previous entry on her.

With regards to the future of the Translandia, Eckerö Line last week entered an agreement to purchase the Moby Freedom (a sister ship of Tallink's Superstar), with delivery set in March 2012. The ship will be rebuilt and will enter service on the Helsinki-Tallinn route later this year (if Eckerö's naming scheme holds true the ship will be renamed Freelandia, though personally I'm hoping for Finlandia). The new ship will replace the Nordlandia (the future of which after this is uncertain), but what will happen to the Translandia when the new ship is delivered is uncertain. According to previous reports from Eckerö Line there is currently cargo overcapacity on the route and and at least theoretically the faster new ship could replace both the Nordlandia and the Translandia.

Translandia in Tallinn's Reisisadam, 27 March 2011. Notice the new livery in comparison to the previous entry on the ship (quite notably resembling Stena Line's previous-from-current livery); interestingly all Eckerö Line ships at the moment have liveries unique to that ship, while all maintaining a similar theme to each other. It will be interesting to see what kind of a livery the upcoming ex-Moby ship will recieve.