Gudingen at Överö, 10 January 2018

Today, we look at some more pictures taken during the recent trip with the Baltic Princess to Gdansk. These little Ålandstrafiken ferries rarely make the most popular entries here, but I'm quite partial to them, so why not?

Gudingen

IMO 7902609
Built 1980, Laivateollisuus Turku, Finland
Tonnage 961 GT
Length 48,50 m
Width 10,50 m
Draugth 3,70 m
Ice class 1A
195 passengers
25 cars and 4 trucks
2 Wärtsilä Vasa diesels, combined 1 606 kW
2 propellers (?)
Speed 14 knots

The Gudingen has of course been feauted here before, and the entry included a brief look at her history, but since it's so uneventful I might as well go through it again: The ship was delviered in 1980 by the Laivateollisuus (literally "ship industry") yard in Turku, which - if I recall correctly - was by this time a part of the state-owned Valmet conglomerate. She was placed on Ålandstrafiken's southern line, linking Galtby on the island of Korppoo in the Turku Archipelago to Långnäs on the island of Lumparland in Åland, via various intermediate ports. And that's the service on which the ship remains to this day, the only major change having been the addition of a blue stripe running alongside the superstructure windows sometime during her career (which helps distinguish her from her near-sister Skiftet).

The photos below show the Gudingen departing from the ferry port of Överö on 10 January 2018, photographed from onboard the Baltic Princess. The ships encountered each other at a slightly unusual time due to the Baltic Princess being in transit to the shipyard rather than regular service. As per the usual, click on the images to see them in larger size.

The reason why the ferry looks so small is... well, because it is so small.

Why not two panoramic shots taken from the distance?

The Gudingen did a nifty little turn...

...and then passed us at close quarters.

Alas, getting ship to stand out from the sea reflecting they white sky was a bit of a challenge.

A little splash while encountering the Baltic Princess' aft wave...

...and a rather bigger splash (albeit not as visible) shortly afterwards.

Next time we will probably change to a rather more tropical setting and will take a look at the Norwegian Spirit visiting Funchal, Madeira.

Gudingen at Långnäs, 8 June 2014

At the end of the previous entry, I promised we would look at the new interiors of the Princess Anastasia, which has just returned from a three-month drydocking. Well, that was all well and good... except they had not changed the interiors at all. So while the onboard product is different, thanks to St. Peter Line's new partnership with Moby Lines, the interiors are exactly the same as before. So you can just look at my 2013 interior tour if you want to know what the ship (still) looks like.

Instead, today we will look at Gudingen, one of the Ålandstrafiken archipelago ferries, images of which I came across when researching photos for a book project.

Gudingen

IMO 7902609
Built 1980, Laivateollisuus Turku, Finland
Tonnage 961 GT
Length 48,50 m
Width 10,50 m
Draugth 3,70 m
Ice class 1A
195 passengers
25 cars and 4 trucks
2 Wärtsilä Vasa diesels, combined 1 606 kW
2 propellers (?)
Speed 14 knots

The Gudingen is an older near-sister of the Skiftet featured here previously. It  was completed by the Valmet-owned Laivateollisuus (literally "ship industry") yard in Turku in 1980, and placed on Ålandstrafiken's "southern line" linking Galtby (in Korppoo) to Långnäs via various intermediate ports. The ship remains on the same service to this day. The only major change that has happened over the years, as far as I can tell, is the painting of the blue stripe along the public room windows - originally the ship was all white (as the Skiftet still is).

The photos below show the Gudingen arriving at Långnäs on 8 June 2014. As per the usual, click on the images to see them in larger size.

While I'm normally all for the use of colour in ship liveries, I must say that on a ship this small the blue stripe doesn't really improve the ship's looks - the all-white Skiftet is decidedly superior visually.

The lighting conditions were not ideal, but since these are my only photos of the ship, I guess these will do.

Kships will return.