Tallink

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Tallink is an Estonian shipping company currently operating cruiseferries and ropax ships from Estonia to Finland, Estonia to Sweden, Latvia to Sweden and Finland to Germany, as well as high-speed crafts between Helsinki and Tallinn. They also own Silja Line.

1 History
2 Future
3 Controversy
4 Fleet
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

History of the company known today as Tallink can be traced back to the year 1965 when the Soviet Union-based Estonian Shipping Company (ESCO) started passenger traffic between Helsinki and Tallinn with M/S Vanemuine. Regular around-the-year traffic was started in 1968 with M/S Tallinn, which served on the route until she was replaced by the new M/S Georg Ots in 1980.

In May 1989 ESCO formed a new subsidiary, Laevandusühisettevôte Tallink, together with the Finnish Palkkiyhtymä Oy. In December of the same year ESCO and Palkkiyhtymä purchased M/S Scandinavian Sky from SeaEscape, and the ship began traffic on the Helsinki - Tallinn route in January 1990 as M/S Tallink. Later in the same year the freighter M/S Transestonia joined M/S Tallink on the Helsinki - Tallinn route and Tallink was established as the name of the company as well as the main ship. At the same time ESCO still operated the Georg Ots in the same route, essentially competing with its own daughter company. This conflict was resolved in September 1991 when the Georg Ots was chartered to Tallink. In the early 90's passenger numbers on Helsinki - Tallinn traffic were steadily increasing, and during winters between 1992 and 1995 Tallink chartered M/S Saint Patrick II from Irish Ferries to increase capacity on the route.

Tallink became a fully Estonian-owned company in 1993 when Palkkiyhtymä sold its shares of both the Tallink company and M/S Tallink to ESCO. At this time other companies were establishing themselves on the lucrative Helsinki - Tallinn traffic, including the Estonian New Line, owned by the Tallinn-based Inreko. ESCO and Inreko saw no sense in competing with each other and in January 1994 Tallink and Inreko Laeva AS were merged into AS Ermine. Tallink remained the marketing name for the company's fleet. Later in the same year Inreko purchased M/S Nord Estonia from EstLine (a daughter company of ESCO and the Swedish Nordström & Thulin Ab), renamed her M/S Vana Tallinn and placed her in Helsinki - Tallinn traffic for Tallink. Inreko also brought with them two fast hydrofoils, H/S Liisa and H/S Laura which began serving under the Tallink Express brand. In 1994 Tallink also attempted traffic from Estonia to Germany for the first time, with two chartered ferries M/S Balanga Queen and M/S Ambassador II that were placed on the route Helsinki - Tallinn - Travemünde.

In September 1994 AS Ermine's operations were divided into two companies, one that took care of the traffic to Germany (which was soon closed down) and AS Hansatee which took the Helsinki - Tallinn traffic and the Tallink name. ESCO was clearly the dominant partner in Hansatee, controlling 45 % of the shares, whereas Inreko owned only 12,75 % (the remaining 42,25 % belonging to Ühispank, Estonia). In 1995 Hansatee brought the first large ferry into Helsinki - Tallinn traffic when they chartered M/S Mare Balticum from EstLine and renamed her M/S Meloodia. Following various disputes between ESCO and Inreko (most notably about the charter price of M/S Vana Tallinn), Inreko sold their shares of AS Hansatee to ESCO in December 1996. At the same time Inreko sold the Tallink Express hydrofoils to Linda Line, Estonia, and begun operating the Vana Tallinn on Helsinki - Tallinn traffic under the name TH Ferries.

In 1997 a second large ferry was brought to Tallink's traffic when the company chartered M/S Normandy from Stena Line. To replace the lost hydrofoils, Hansatee purchased a new express catamaran in May 1997, which was named M/S Tallink Express. At this time it was clear that two large ferries were needed for traffic between Helsinki and Tallinn, and when the Normandy's charter ended in December 1997 Tallink purchased M/S Lion King from Stena Line, which entered traffic in February 1998 as M/S Fantaasia. In July of the same year Tallink purchased the freighter M/S Kapella which opened a line from Paldiski to Kappelskär, Tallink's first route to Sweden. In October the original M/S Tallink, which no longer conformed modern safety regulations, was sold. Two months later Hansatee purchased the their first fast ferry capable of carrying cars, HSC Tallink AutoExpress.

Meanwhile EstLine had become solely owned by ESCO, and in December 2000 EstLine's two ferries M/S Regina Baltica and M/S Baltic Kristina were chartered to Hansatee, and the line between Tallinn and Stockholm began to be marketed as a part of Tallink. A few months earlier, in August 2000, Hansatee had ordered their first newbuild from the Finnish Aker Finnyards. In June 2001 Tallink purchased HSC Tallink AutoExpress 2, while next month EstLine was declared bankrupt.

In 2002 AS Hansatee changed its name into AS Tallink Grupp, and in May of the same year the company took delivery of the brand new 2500-passenger cruiseferry M/S Romantika, which was placed on Helsinki - Tallinn traffic. In November of the same year the classic M/S Georg Ots was sold to the government of Russia. In 2004 three news ships joined Tallink's fleet, HSC Tallink AutoExpress 3 and 4 alongside M/S Romantika's sister M/S Victoria I which was placed on Tallinn - Stockholm traffic.

In 1999, Tallink purchased its first AutoExpress catamaran for the Tallinn–Helsinki line. As of today (2006), there is one catamaran and two speed boats on the route. In 2000 Tallink took over EstLine, hence starting traffic on the route Tallinn - Stockholm.

In 2002, the modern cruiseferry M/S Romantika was delivered from Aker Finnyards and started operating between Tallinn and Helsinki. Two years later her sister ship M/S Victoria I was delivered and put on the Tallinn – Stockholm route, replacing M/S Fantaasia which in turn started a new route from Helsinki to St. Petersburg via Tallinn. Unfortunately this route proved unprofitable and was terminated in January 2005. In the same year Tallink order a sister ship of the to-be delived M/S Galaxy and a fast ropax ferry from Aker Finnyards as well as another ropax ferry from the Fincantieri yard in Italy. On December 9, 2005, Tallink was listed at Tallinn Stock Exchanges.

In 2006, Tallink purchased the Baltic Sea operations of Superfast Ferries, opened a route between Riga and Stockholm (with M/S Fantaasia, which was within a month replaced by M/S Regina Baltica), took delivery of the new M/S Galaxy which replaced Romantika on the Tallinn–Helsinki route (M/S Romantika went to the Tallinn-Stockholm route). A few months later Tallink purchased rival Silja Line from Sea Containers Ltd. In October of the same year the company expressed interest in making an offer to operate ferries on the state-subsidiarised routes between Gotland and the Swedish mainland for the period between 2009 and 2015.

From the beginning of 2007 the former Superfast ships were moved under the Tallink brand and their route changed to Tallinn - Helsinki - Rostock. At the same time M/S Meloodia was chartered to Balearias, Spain for ten months.

[edit] Future

Tallink have promised to maintain the Silja Line brand in the future, although this promise has met with some scepticism in amongst shipping enthustiasts in the Nordic Countries. However, Silja Line is one of the best known shipping company brand in its traffic area, and it would seem unlikely that Tallink should abandon such a well-known brand.

[edit] Controversy

In October 2006, the board of Tallink held a meeting on board their ship Silja Symphony. During the night, the party went out of control and became headline news in both Sweden, Estonia and Finland. Witnesses reported that the board members assaulted personnel, abused them verbally, and threatened to fire the whole crew, when they tried to calm them down. The company CEO Enn Pant was even reported to have sexually harassed a male crew member.

[edit] Fleet

M/S Romantika in Helsinki, February 2006.

[edit] Current Fleet

M/S Galaxy, Tallinn — Helsinki
M/S Kapella, Tallinn — Helsinki (freight)
M/S Romantika, Tallinn — Stockholm
M/S Regal Star, Paldiski — Kapellskär
M/S Regina Baltica, Riga — Stockholm
M/S Superfast VII, Tallinn — Helsinki — Rostock
M/S Superfast VIII, Tallinn — Helsinki — Rostock
M/S Superfast IX, Tallinn — Helsinki — Rostock
HSC Tallink AutoExpress 2, Tallinn — Helsinki
HSC Tallink AutoExpress 3, Tallinn — Helsinki (will be sold to Arab Bridge Maritime Co at the end of April 2007)
HSC Tallink AutoExpress 4, Tallinn — Helsinki (will be sold to Aegean Speed Lines in April 2007)
M/S Vana Tallinn, Tallinn — Helsinki (will transfer to Stockholm — Riga route in April 2007)
M/S Victoria I, Tallinn — Stockholm

In the most recent Tallink Silja Line brochure (spring 2007) and TallinkSilja website, the names of all ships include a "Tallink" -prefix. However their registered names remain as listed above.

See also Silja Line - Current fleet

[edit] Ships under construction

M/S Star, fast ro-pax ferry for Helsinki — Tallinn route from Aker Finnyards, to be delivered on 12 April 2007.
M/S NB 1361 (possibly to be called Luxury), sister ship to M/S Galaxy from Aker Finnyards, to be delivered in summer 2008. According to an article in the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat it will replace M/S Silja Europa or M/S Silja Festival in the fleet of Tallink's subsidiary Silja Line.
M/S NB 8367, fast ro-pax ferry from Fincantieri, to be delivered February 2008.

[edit] Former vessels

M/S Ambassador II - now owned by International Shipping Partners
M/S Baltic Kristina - now owned laid up in Riga
M/S Balanga Queen - now M/S Discovery Sun for Discovery Cruise Line
M/S Corbiere - now M/S Apollo, owned by Labrador Marine Inc, on line between St. Barbe and Blanc Sablon
M/S Fantaasia - now under charter to COMANAV
M/S Georg Ots - now owned by the government of Russia, on line between St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad
M/S Meloodia - Chartered to Balearias for ten months from January 2007 onwards.
M/S Normandy - now owned by Irish Continental Group, on line between Rosslare and Cherbourg/Roscoff
M/S Saint Patrick II - now M/S C.T.M.A. Vacancier, owned by the government of Canada, on line between Montreal and Cap-aux-Meules
M/S Tallink - scrapped in Alang, India in 2005
HSC Tallink AutoExpress - now HSC Alcantara Dos, owned by Acciona Trasmediterranea
M/S Tallink Express I - now M/S Panormitis for A.N.E.S. High Speed Ltd.
M/S Transestonia - now M/S Trans, owned by Sigma Marine