IMO 9443255
Built 2009, STX Europe Rauma, Finland
Tonnage 48 915 GT
Length 212,10 m
Width 29,00 m
Draught 6,42 m
Ice class 1A Super
2 800 passengers
2 500 berths
600 cars
1 130 lanemeters
4 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 32 000 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 24,5 knots
I don't remember if there has been a history entry for the Baltic Queen before. There probably hasn't, because there's so little to say. The ship was built in 2009 by STX Europe in Rauma as the third and last unit of Tallink's Galaxy-class. On delivery in April 2009 she was placed on the Tallinn-Mariehamn-Stockholm route. In November-December 2009 and again in October-November 2010 she briefly moved to Silja Line's Turku-Långnäs-Stockholm -run, allowing the Silja Europa to move to the Helsinki-Mariehamn-Stockholm run to cover for the docking periods of the Silja Serenade and Silja Symphony. Apart from these occasions, Tallink's newest ship has stayed exclusively on the Tallinn-Stockholm run.
The photographs below show the Baltic Queen departing from Stockholm Värtahamnen in the afternoon of 28 May 2013, photographed from onboard St. Peter Line's Princess Anastasia. Click on the images to see them in larger size.
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| The lighting obviously wasn't ideal when approaching from this direction, but on the other hand it's not every day you can even photograph the ship from this particular point of view in this place. |
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| As fashionable as it is to dislike the Tallink ship artworks, I must say I quite like the one on the BQ. It's not overdone and the colours used work surprisingly well together. I wouldn't mind seeing Tallink repaint some of their ships, but this one should stay exactly as it is. |
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| The remains of a double-ended local Stockholm ferry in the foreground. |
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| Departing view framed by harbour buildings. Notice the map of the Baltic Sea on the warehouse on the left. |
these artworks don't work for me Kalle you have difficulty in seeing the complete ship and that confuses me, this one for me should be orange hull to match the funnel and white the upper decks, having said that, cruise ferries in your part of the World are so less boring than over here and further south where Blue and Blue seems to prevail.
ReplyDeleteTo each one their own, of course. I presume one of the reasons I like the hull art here is the bulky and overtly long exterior appearance of the Galaxy-class ships. The artwork helps break up the bulk of the ship rather nicely, whereas if it would have a traditional coloured hull (and maybe some window stripes), the ship would look even longer and bulkier.
DeleteAnd not all things in the more Southern ferry scene are bad - there's Corsica Ferries with their delightful yellow hulls after all. ;)