Boudicca, 15 August 2008

Boudicca

IMO 7218395
Built 1973, Wärtsilä Helsinki, Finland
Tonnage 28 388 GT
Length 205,47 m
Width 25,20 m
Draught 7,55 m
900 passengers
4 MAN/B&W diesels, combined 14 000 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 22 knots

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines' Boudicca is a classic ship, one of the first cruise ships ever to be built at Wärtsilä's Hietalahti shipyard in Helsinki. She was built as the Royal Viking Sky, the second of three ships built for the Royal Viking Line, a new luxury cruise line established by the Norwegian shipping companies Der Bergenske Dampskibsselskab (DBS, better known in English as the Bergen Line), Det Nordenfjeldske Dampskibsselskab and AF Klaveness & Co. Each company owned one of the three ships, which were joint marketed as Royal Viking Line. The Royal Viking Sky was (probably) owned by Nordenfjeldske, although some sources state she was owned by Bergen Line instead. Some even claim she was owned by Kloster Cruise (the owners of Norwegian Cruise Line) but this must be a mistake as Kloster only became involved in Royal Viking Line later on.

Reagrdless of who owned her, the Royal Viking Sky entered service in 1973. Through-out the 70s the Royal Viking trio competed for the title of the world's most luxurious cruise ships with Norwegian America Line's Sagafjord and Vistafjord. In order to increase the company's capacity without needing to order new ships, the Royal Viking Line partners decided to have the three ships each lengthened with the addition of the 28-meter long midsection. For the Royal Viking Sky the lengthening was carried out at the A.G. Weser shipyard in Bremerhaven, West Germany in autumn 1982. The lengthening however proved to be a mistake: the ships lost much of the intimate atmosphere that had made them popular and without all-new ships Royal Viking Line had trouble competing with brands with newer, purpose-built ships.

In 1984 Kloster Cruise took over the Royal Viking Line. In 1991 all of the original Royal Viking sisters were transferred to othwer Kloster-owned brands (Royal Viking Line continued trading with the newer Royal Viking Sun and Royal Viking Queen until 1994 when the brand was sold to Cunard Line). The Royal Viking Sky briefly became Norwegian Cruise Line's Sunward, but already in 1992 she was sold to the Finland-based Birka Line, who renamed her Birka Queen and used her for cruises from Stockholm to St. Petersburg and Riga. (Birka had been building a new ship, also to be named Birka Queen, at Wärtsilä's Turku shipyard, but opted not to continue building the ship after Wärtsilä Marine's bankruptcy and bought the Sunward instead).

After the 1992 summer season the Birka Queen was chartered back to Norwegian Cruise Line for the 1992-1993 winter season, reverting to the name Sunward. Birka opted not to operate the ship themselves for the 1993 summer season, and instead she was now chartered to Princess Cruises, becoming the Golden Princess for cruising to Alaska. After Princess Cruises acquired new tonnage in 1996 they had no further need for the Golden Princess, and Birka Line sold her to Star Cruises. In 1997-1998 the ship sailed as their SuperStar Capricorn. Her iteneraries apparently included casino cruising out of New York. In 1998 Hyundai Merchant Marine chartered the ship for five years, renamed her Hyundai Keumgang and used her for cruising from South Korea to North Korea. However, Hyundai Merchant Marine went bankrupt already in 2001, and the ship returned to Star Cruises service and reverted to the name SuperStar Capricorn.

In 2004 Star Cruises sold the SuperStar Capricorn to Viajes Iberojet, who renamed her Grand Latino for Mediterranean cruising. After a little under two years with the ship Iberojet sold her, now to Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines. In keeping with their tradition of giving names beginning with "B" to their ships, Olsen planned on naming the ship Boadicea after the legendary celtic queen. This was later altered to Boudicca, in accordance with the spelling currently preferred by historians. Prior to entering service with Fred. Olsen the Boudicca sailed to the Blohm+Voss shipyard in Hamburg, where she was refitted with new engines, additional suites with balconies and her interiors thoroughly rebuilt. Since February 2006 the Boudicca has been in service with Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, sailing on varied iteneraries around the world.

Photographs below show the Boudicca deparing Helsinki on 15 August 2008. Click on the individual images to view full size.

The usual view, entering the Kustaanmiekka strait.

In the strait, showing her very fine Tage Wandborg -designed lines,

That's a fine rear you've got there, queen Boudicca. :P

Parting shot as the Boudicca heads on to open waters.

Silja Symphony, 31 July 2008

Silja Symphony

IMO 8803769
Built 1991, Kvaerner Masa-Yards Turku New Shipyard, Finland
Tonnage 58 377 GT
Length 203,03 m
Width 31,93 m
Draft 7,12 m
Ice class 1A Super
2 852 passengers
3 001 berths
410 cars
1 600 lane metres
4 Wärtsilä-Vasa diesels, combined 32 580 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
1 stern thruster
Speed 21 knots

I guess there isn't much top say about the Silja Symphony that hasn't already been said in this blog. So I'll just let the photographs speak for themselves.

Silja Symphony passing through the Kustaanmiekka strait on 31 July 2008. Click on the images to view full size.

No, the picture isn't crooked. The ship on the other hand is.

Dynamic through the strait.

LNG - The Fuel for the Future?

Those of you who follow the ferry news in the Nordic Countries are probably aware that Viking Line have made a memorandum of agreement with the STX shipyard in Turku to build a 60 000 GT LNG-powered cruiseferry that - should the agreement be made - will replace the company's Isabella on the Turku-Stockholm service in 2013. Viking Line however are not the only ferry company planning for a natural gas -based future: the Norwegian company Fjord Line (company website) are currently building two large ferries for their Norway-Denmark services, to be delivered in 2012.

The usage of LNG however is not without problems at the moment. A major hurdle in the path of Viking Line's plan is the lack of fuel infrastructure in the company's traffic area. To supply fuel for the new ship, an entirely new LNG terminal has to be built. There are plans for building such in either Turku or the neighbouring city Naantali but it's still a major investment. In Norway the problem is apparently less severe, as a number of small coastal ferries are already LNG-powered and one presumes the new Fjord Line ships are capable of using the same facilities.

Why then the sudden desire for companies to build LNG-powered ships? The ansver lies in new EU air pollution regulations that are due to come into effect in Northern Europe 2015. These rules specify that ships must use fuel with a 0,1% sulphur content instead of the current 1%. In effect this will double the fuel expenses of traditional diesel-engined ferries and forces shipping companies to look into alternative sources of fuel. There is however the problem that Viking Line has: in most places the supply infrastructure does not exist and according to a report in Cruise Business Online, it will take until 2020 for the infrastructure to be properly built. Potentially this can be a serious threat to the ferry operators in Northern Europe, as many routes will simply not be viable under the new conditions.

That said, why are the shipping companies awakening to this fact now? The decision on the new pollution regulations was made already in 2008. It would have probably been possibly to fit ships completed this year such as Stena Line's new Stena Hollandica and Stena Britannica or P&O's upcoming Spirit of Britain and Spirit of France with LNG-compatible engines. Yet this wasn't done. Instead the companies spent two years procrastinating and now complain that they won't have time to implement the changes by 2015.

I'm not arguing this wouldn't be a major problem as refitting all existing tonnage in five years (or even seven years) simply isn't viable and the raised fuel expenses are likely to result in route closures. That in turn will cause an increase in road traffic, which will in turn negate any benifit of the less-polluting ship fuel. But shouldn't you have started doing something about it a bit earlier?

Saga Ruby, 9 July 2008

Saga Ruby

IMO 7214715
Built 1973, Swan Hunter Shipbuilders Wallsend, United Kingdom
Tonnage 24 492 GT
Length 191,09 m
Width 25,05 m
Draught 8,23 m
655 passengers
655 berths
2 Sulzer diesels, combined 17 650 kW
2 propellers
1 bow thruster
Speed 20 knots

Saga Ruby originally started life as the Vistafjord of Den Norske Amerikalinje (Norwegian America Line, NAL). She was largely based on NAL's 1965-built Sagafjord. Although the Vistafjord was never used on transatlantic services, she was built with separate first class accommodation (the North Atlantic conference of passenger shipping demanded all transatlantic liners to have two accommodation classes). The Vistafjord's main use was to be cruising. During the 1970s Norwegian America Line was, alongside the Royal Viking Line, the most luxurious cruise line around. In rankings of the time the Vistafjord and her sister were always amongst the top five cruise ships of their time (the other three in the top five being Royal Viking Line's Royal Viking Star, Royal Viking Sea and Royal Viking Sky).

Despite their high prestige (or perhaps because of maintaining it) Norwegian America Line's cruise ships were not very profitable. In 1983 Trafalgar House purchased NAL's operations and their two ships. The Vistafjord and Sagafjord now came to be marketed under the brand Cunard Line, which was at the time owner by Trafalgar House. However, the two ex-NAL ships retained their original names and NAL's grey hull colour, the only visible change being Cunard's red funnel colours. (During 1983 Cunard's flagship QE2 had also been painted in a similar colour scheme with a grey hull, but by the time of the Cunard-NAL merger she had reverted to a black hull). At the same time the ships were also re-registered from Norwegian to Bahamian registry.

The Vistafjord continued sailing for Cunard for several years. During the 1990s she was rebuilt with additional structures on the top deck, though I could not find the exact date for this change. The Sagafjord was sold by Cunard to the new Saga Cruises in 1997, becoming the Saga Rose, but the Vistafjord stayed with Cunard into the Carnival era. In 1999 the Vistafjord was renamed Caronia, after Cunard's famous cruise ships of the 1940s-1960s era, repainted with a black hull and re-registred in Southampton, presumably as a part of the attempt by Cunard's new owners to emphasize the line's long history.

The Caronia's long Cunard career finally ended in 2004, after the delivery of the new Queen Mary 2. Like her elder sister Sagafjord/Saga Rose, the Caronia was sold to Saga Cruises and became their Saga Ruby. Initially she was registred in London, but in 2010 this was changed to Valletta, Malta. To this day the Saga Ruby remains in service with Saga Cruises. She has outlived her elder semi-sister Saga Rose, which was sold for scrap in 2009.

The photographs below show the Saga Ruby departing Helsinki on 9 July 2008, photographed from Kustaanmiekka. Click on the individual images to view full size.

Entering the Kustaanmiekka strait. Ships still in service don't get much more classic than this, even though the Saga Ruby is still far from the oldest ship in service.

In the strait displaying her fine sheer.

Still in the strait, camouflaged in part by vegetation.

...and passing on to the relatively open water of the gulf of Finland.

Superfast VIII, 17 November 2008

Superfast VIII

IMO 9198953
Built 2001, HDW Kiel, Germany
Tonnage 30 285 GT
Length 203,30 m
Width 25,42 m
Draught 6,60 m
Ice class 1 A Super
626 passengers
626 berths
661 cars
1 920 lane metres
4 Wärtsilä-Sulzer diesels, combined 46 000 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
1 stern thruster
Speed 28,9 knots

Superfast VIII is one in a series of four ice-reinforced vessels (Superfast VII through X) built for Superfast Ferries at HDW Kiel in 2001-2002, planned for Superfast's conquest of the Baltic Sea, the company having previously operated in the Mediterranean. Superfast VII and VIII were placed in a service linking Hanko (the southernmost port in Finland) to Rostock in Germany, in indirect competition with Finnlines' Helsinki-Travemünde ships and Silja Line's Finnjet that sailed between Helsinki and Rostock. Superfast IX and X meanwhile started a Södertälje-Rostock service, but this was less than successful and the ships were soon moved to a new Rosyth-Zeebrugge service.

In 2006 Tallink, who had reportedly been planning to start a Finland-Estonia-Germany service of their own, acquired the Baltic Sea operations of Superfast Ferries, taking posession of the Superfast VII, VIII and IX (the latter having been transferred to the Finland-German yservice the previous year). The ships were re-registered in Paldiski, Estonia in place of their original home port Piraeus and soon afterwards their route was changed into Hanko-Paldiski-Rostock. Since Estonia was not yet at the time a member of the Schengen treaty, this nescessitated adding passport control on the service. Due to this and presumably other reasons the service change was unsuccessful and after lass than two months the intermediate call at Paldiski was removed. Around this time the ship's original Superfast hull markings were amended into "Superfast operated by Tallink".

From the beginning of 2007 the route of the Tallink Superfasts was again changed, now to Tallinn-Helsinki-Rostock. This route variant lasted until late 2008, when Helsinki's new freight harbour in Vuosaari was opened and all ships sailing from Helsinki to German ports were moved there. Now the Superfast VII and VIII (IX having been chartered to Marine Atlantic in Canada) begun sailing only between Helsinki and Rostock. This has remained the ship's route since then, but during the winter 2009-2010 and now again 2010-2011 both the Superfast VII and VIII have been laid up, the service not being profitable during the winter months at least in part due to increased competition from Finnlines.

The photograph below shows the Superfast VIII in Helsinki's Länsisatama on 17 November 2008. Click on the image to view full size.

Nocturnal Superfast. Apart from replacing the Superfast hull and funnel markings with their own, Tallink retained the ship in her original Superfast Ferries livery - including the red hull, which caused many people to confuse the ships with those of Viking Line.