Stockholm in Stockholm, 18 August 2017

It's been a while since the last update. I can happily say that Innovation and Specialisation - The Story of Shipbuilding in Finland is nearing completion (and it's looking awesome), and I'm finally at a point when there's no pending workload. Meanwhile, last month my trusted Canon EOS 500D camera broke, and I was briefly forced to revert to the old 350D - but the shipspotter extraordinnaire Marko Stampehl sold me his old 7D camera (at a price I could afford), so overall everything worked out better than expected. That said, I've only been able to "take out" the camera just once so far - the results of which you can see below.

Stockholm

IMO 5193890
Name history: Öland, Korsholm III, Korsholm, Öland, Korsholm, Korsholm av Wästerås, Stockholm
Built 1931, Oskarshamns Varv, Sweden
Tonnage 421 GRT
Length 48,79 m
Width 8,56 m
Draught 3,50 m
350 passengers (summer)/250 passengers (winter)
Steam engine, 710 kW
2 Volvo-Penta diesels, combined 750 kW
1 propeller
Speed 11 knots

Why are we looking at a small achipelago cruise ship, you may ask? Well, the reason is that the Stockholm (in addition to being rather neat-looking) was also back in the day the first roll-on roll-off car ferry to sail between Finland and Sweden. So let us dwelve into the story of this fascinating ship!

The Stockholm was built in 1931 as the Öland by Oskarshamn Varv in Sweden for the Royal Post Office to maintain winter service between the Swedish mainland and Öland. Her hull was ice-reinforced, though I do not know how the reinforcements translate into today's system. In 1952 the ship was sold to Ångbåts AB Kalmarsund, who retained her on the Öland-Swedish mainland routes, but now sailing also during the summers. In 1956, she was withdrawn and laid up.

A buyer emerged in 1958 in the form of Rederi Ab Vasa-Umeå, a Finnish shipping company operating ships linking - you guessed it - Vaasa in Finland to Umeå in Sweden. The Öland was renamed Korsholm III and sailed to the Hollming shipyard in Rauma, Finland, where she was lengthened by 12 metres. The added midsection included a side-loadable car deck for up to 35 cars. Thus, when she re-entered service later the same year, the Korsholm III became the first car ferry to sail between Finland and Sweden. While her hull was ice-reinforced, it could not cope with the difficult ice conditions on the Gulf of Bothnia, and during her time with Vasa-Umeå the Korsholm III was always laid up for the winters.

The Korsholm III remained in service with Rederi Ab Vasa-Umeå until 1966, sailing on the Vaasa-Umeå route with the exception of the 1966 summer season, when she sailed from Vaasa to Örnsköldsvik instead. The arrival of the new Botnia Express for the 1967 summer season meant there was no longer a use for the Korsholm III, and she was laid up from autumn 1966 until autumn 1967, when she was sold to the Finnish Navy as a command ship, renamed Korsholm (she replaced an earlier Korsholm, which was also an old Vasa-Umeå steamer, the Korsholm II). Our Korsholm was transferred to the Finnish Maritime Administration in 1975.

The FMA gave up the ship in 1985. During the following 13 years, the aged steamer passed from one owner to another, with various plans for use either in service or in a stationary role. Between 1986 and 1989 she reverted to the original name Öland, then back to Korsholm until 1996, and then Korsholm av Wästerås (as the Swedish registry did not allow for two ships to have the same name, the established practice was to paint "av", Swedish for "of", between the name and port of registry, thus creating a "different" name). At various times she was laid up in Turku, Stockholm and Nakskov (Denmark), in increasingly poor condition due to vandalism.

Then, in 1998, the ship's fortunes were reversed: she was acquired by Strömma Kanalbolaget, who totally renovated her for use as an archipelago cruise ship in Stockholm. Her bow, superstructure and funnel were restored to original appearance (the bow having been raised by one deck and the funnel rebuilt when she became the Korsholm III), and the interiors rebuilt to be suitable for her new role - including a dining room decorated in art deco style. To save on fuel costs, two diesel engines were fitted alongside the original steam engine. In spring 2000, the ship was renamed Stockholm and entered service on archipelago cruises from her namesake city. This is the service where she remains to this day.

The photos below show the Stockholm departing from Nybroviken in Stockholm, photographed from the quayside. As always, click on the images to see them in larger size.

It was a nice day, with a nice new camera and a neat classsic ship. Nothing to complain about.

The exterior is not, of course, entirely similar to the original, as the 12-metre section added in 1958 has not been removed. And the funnel colours were different back in the day, of couse.

These photos did require some fiddling afterwards on the computer; I'm still on the learning curve when it comes to the best settings to use on the new camera.

Silja Symphony in Helsinki, 19 July 2016

This blog is not dead, though you could be forgiven for thinking so. I have been very busy for the last few weeks putting the finishing touches on my & Bruce Peter's magnum opus, Innovation and Specialisation: The Story of Shipbuilding in Finland. The concentration on that project also created an impressive backlog of work for other projects, and the blog was the loser in the struggle for my time. I have several interesting photo sets to post, including no less than three interior tours... but since I don't have time to edit those into publishable form right now, there are instead images of the Silja Symphony tasken from Vallisaari last summer; these are a set I edited for publication in another project, so they might as well go up here, too.

Silja Symphony

IMO 8803769
Built 1991, Kvaerner Masa-Yards Turku, Finland
Tonnage 58 377 GT
Length 203,03 m
Width 31,93 m
Draught 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

So, the photos below show the Silja Symphony arriving at Helsinki in the morning of 19 July 2016, photographed from Vallisaari. As per the usual, click on the images to see them in larger size.

The no entry -bit of Vallisaari looks rather impressive indeed in the foreground.

This could be a cover for an updated version of Silja Line from De Samseglande to Tallink, if I ever have the chance to make one.

Impressive exterior design on thse sisters, even if the current style hull texts don't quite match the rest of the livery as well as the original.

Entering the Kustaanmiekka strait.

Regal Princess in Helsinki, 19 May 2017

Today, I finally managed to get this summer's cruise visitor season started. It did require some help from my friends, as Miles Cowsill and Matthew Punter were visiting Helsinki and I promised to show them around. Good fun was had by all, and I managed to (finally) photograph a ship I had never photographed before: the Regal Princess (which I did visit when she called in Helsinki for the first time in 2015, interior tour here, but I hadn't done the exteriors before now. A bit of a shame, as on the past two summers she was running with a plain white hull, whereas now she has the Princess' "Sea Witch" logo painted on sides of the bow).

Regal Princess

IMO 9584724
Built 2014, Fincantieri Monfalcone, Italy
Tonnage 142 714 GT
Length 330 m
Width 38,40 m
Draft 8,60 m
4 380 passengers
6 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 62 400 kW
2 propellers
3 bow thrusters
3 (?) stern thrusters
Speed 23 knots

Photos below show the Regal Princess departing Helsinki Länsisatama on the afternoon of 19 May 2017. Photographed from Vattuniemi. As usual, click on the images to see them in larger size.

No chance of mistaking the company these days, with the huge logo at the bow and the company name in large letters towards the stern. funnily, cruise ships are continuously nearing ferries when it comes to displaying company names on logos on the topsides.

The water levels were extremely low, but unfortunately not low enough to get to Sisä-Hattu without the need to get your feet wet. And the water is cold this time of year.

I'm not sure I like the exterior design of this class, to be honest. The front and back bits look like they're from a different ship, with curves at the rear up to and including the funnel, but straight lines forward of that.

Kships will return.

Mariella in Helsinki, 19 July 2016

I realised today that I had uploaded only one set of images from my & ship photographer extraordinnaire Marko Stampehl's visit to Vallisaari last summer. It's high time to put up a second one.

Mariella

IMO 8320573
Built 1985, Wärtsilä Turku (Perno), Finland
Tonnage 37 860 GT
Length 175,70 m
Width 28,40 m
Draugth 6,78 m
Ice class 1A Super
2 500 passengers
2 500 berths
430 cars
980 lane metres
4 Wärtsilä SEMT-Pielstick diesels, combined 23 008 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 22 knots

Since 2014, the Mariella's route has been extended to Stockholm-Helsinki-Tallinn during the summer seasons, with a return trip to Tallinn during the time the ship normally spends in port in Helsinki (the same of course applied to the running mate Gabriella). This of course gives additional photo opportunities, as you can photograph the ship arriving and departing in the space of a few hours, both in the morning and afternoon. It's quite unusual for me to be up to photographs the morning call, though...

The photos below show the Mariella passing though the Kustaanmiekka strait, both arriving and departing, in the morning of 19 July 2016. Photographed from the little cape in Vallisaari next to the Kustaanmiekka strait (I have not been able to discover the name of the place; if someone does, let me know). As per the usual, click on the images to see them in larger size.

Morning rush hour; in addition to the Mariella, you can see the inbound Star and Silja Symphony in the horizon.

Rush hour part two, the Mariella with the outbound Finlandia in the background.

A slightly more unusual view of the ramparts at Kustaanmiekka.

I'm still not sure if I like the "Grace stripes" and the new, larger hull texts on her. Especially not with the slightly misaligned G in Viking.

About two hours later, the same ship was outbound. The ramparts in background would make for fine photo locations, were they not part of a low-security prison and therefore inaccessible to the general public.

Dynamic old lady.

Kships will return.

Express (Viking FSTR) interiors, 15 & 20 April 2017

The entry featuing exterior photos of the Express/Viking FSTR posted in the beginning of this month has been a surprise hit with the readers, skyrocketing to the list of Top 5 most popular entries of all time, and easily outperforming other recent new or radically rebuilt ships such as the Megastar and Silja Europa. Yesterday, I was at a press showing of the ship, so here are a bunch of interior images of the ship – let's see if these will be as popular as the exteriors.

Express

IMO 9176046
Name history: Catalonia, Catalonia L, Portsmouth Express, Express
Built 1998, Incat Hobart, Australia
Tonnage 5 902 GT
Length 91,30 m
Width 26,00 m
Draught 3,73 m
836 passengers
120 cars
4 Caterpillar diesels, combined 28 800 kW
4 waterjets
Maximum speed 48 knots
Service speed 30 knots

For a recap of the history of the ship, please refer to the earlier entry on it.

The Express has two passenger decks, plus the car deck below them, so be warned that there isn't a huge amount of material to be discussed here.

Deck 3 features the navigation bridge forward, followed by a token outer deck (the entrance to which still displays P&O Ferries signage with access restrictions that are not in effect). The indoors areas are primarily just sitting lounges, with the Fork & Knife cafeteria midships.

The seating areas are... well, the usual. The seats are much larger than on a bus or airplane, but there still isn't enough leg room for someone of my height.

In the forward port corner of the deck there is what at least used to be a children's play area. Now it only has multicoloured seats and a TV screen, so there isn't much to amuse a child of any age.

The Fork & Knife cafeteria amidships has both nice outside views from the sides over the two-deck high foyers (which I could not photograph due to people hanging around in them) and gets natural light from the overhead skylights.

Deck 2 has the car deck's upper ramps forward, followed by a crew mess (this used to be a games room when the ship was sailing on the Irish Sea, but the ceiling height of the original crew mess did not fullfill Swedish regulations and thus a new one had to be built when it was moved under the Swedish flag), the embarkation foyers, First Bar and FSTR shop amidships, plus regular sitting areas and the Club Lounge aft.

Bar First has a tropical beach theme - somewhat unusual on the Baltic, but a nice touch never the less.

The foyer between the shop (entrance to which is just out of screen on the right) and the seating areas. Many of the walls are decorated with photomurals from Gotland, a relic from the ship's time with Gotlandsbåten. Maybe Viking could consider a special cruise to Visby during the summer season?

The Club Lounge is a surprisingly nice space (though the window isn't as impressive as it appears, as the car ramp blocks the view from the lower level). I'm not normally keen on extra cost lounges, but for the 30 euro price (25 for Viking Line Club members), the quality and amount of things on offer is very good – you essentially get the same things as you do in Tallink's Business Lounges, but at half the price.

Kships will return.