M/S Vana Tallinn

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M/S Vana Tallinn (Old Tallinn in Estonian) is a passenger ferry owned by the Estonian ferry company Tallink and operated on the line between Helsinki and Tallinn. She was built in 1974 by Aalborg Skibsværft A/S, Aalborg, Denmark for DFDS as M/S Dana Regina, and has sailed under the names M/S Nord Estonia and M/S Thor Heyerdahl.

[edit] History

The Dana Regina was ordered in 1969 by DFDS, the oldest operational Danish shipping company. The ship was completed in 1974 and christened M/S Dana Regina. After a promotional cruise from Copenhagen to Esbjerg via Harwich and London she started scheduled service on the Harwich — Esbjerg route on 8 July 1974. In January 1977 the ship was rebuilt at Hamburg, Germany with an enlarged car capacity. In October 1983 the Dana Regina was transferred to Copenhagen — Oslo route.

In June 1990, the Dana Regina was sold to Nordström & Thulin, Sweden, who renamed her M/S Nord Estonia and used her to open a service between Tallinn and Stockholm under colour of their subsidiary Estline. In 1993 the Nord Estonia was supplanted by larger tonnage (the ill-fated M/S Estonia), and she was chartered to Larvik Line who renamed her M/S Thor Heyerdahl and used her on the Larvik — Frederikshavn route between March and August of 1993. The charter contract also included an option for Larvik Line to buy the ship, but they decided not to use it and at the end of the charter the Thor Heyerdahl was laid up in Gothenburg.

In May 1994 the ship was sold to Inreko, at the time one of the owners of Tallink, who renamed her M/S Vana Tallinn and placed her on the Helsinki — Tallinn route. Already in September 1994 a rift developed between Inreko and ESCO, the two owners of Tallink. As a result Inreko withdrew from Tallink, and chartered the Vana Tallinn to ESCO wh ocontinued to operate her on the same route under the same name (from the passenger's point of view nothing changed, which has led to some confusing record from this time of the ship's history). Conitnuous disputes about the charter price of Vana Tallinn led to breaking the charter agreement in November 1996, and in December of the same year Inreko founded TH Ferries, which began operating the Vana Tallinn on the Helsinki—Tallinn route in competition to Tallink. However, in January 1998 the ship was sold to Hansatee (now the owners of Tallink), and returned to Tallink's colours, still sailing on the same route under the same name.

Tallink began modernising their fleet during the first years of the 21st century, and as new tonnage was delivered the Vana Tallinn was tranferred to service between Paldiski (a port town near Tallinn) and Kapellskär (a port town near Stockholm). On new year 2005/2006 the ship was chartered to make a special cruise from St. Petersburg to Tallinn. A year later she made a similar but more extensive cruise with the itenary St. Petersburg — Helsinki — Stockholm — Tallinn — St Petersburg. After this cruise, on 10 January 2007, the ship was temporarily transferred back to Helsinki — Tallinn route to cover for the M/S Meloodia (which had been chartered to Balearias, Spain) until the actual replacement M/S Star would be delivered in April 2007. After the delivery of M/S Star the Vana Tallinn will be transferred to Stockholm — Riga route, running parallel with M/S Regina Baltica.