MS Rosella

MS "Rosella" is a cruiseferry, built in 1980 by Wärtsilä Turku shipyard (now Aker Finnyards), Finland for SF Line, one of the owners of the Viking Line consortium. She currently servers Viking Line's Kapellskär—Mariehamn route.

Background

New vessels for SF Line

The market for transporting passengers, cars and cargo trucks across the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden grew steadily during the 1960s and the early 1970s. During these years, two major carriers on these services emerged: Viking Line and Silja Line. By the time of the mid 1970s, the Alandian based shipping company SF Line operated three ships as a part of Viking Line. Although not more than ten years old, these ships was already beginning to be too small and held too few passenger cabins to meet the growing demand from passengers. In response to this, as well as the newbuilings recently added to the Silja Line fleet, SF Line decided to order two new and bigger ships. These ships would later be known as the "Turella" and the "Rosella".

Ordering

The lowest bid for building the two new vessels came from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. In order to save job opportunities in Finland, the Finnish state subsidised the construction of the new ships with 17 million Finnish markka.sv icon [http://www.faktaomfartyg.se/turella_1979.htm Fakta om Fartyg: MS "Turella" (1979)] , retrieved 26. 9. 2007] sv icon [http://www.faktaomfartyg.se/rosella_1980.htm Fakta om Fartyg: MS "Rosella" (1980)] , retrieved 26. 9. 2007] Thus, the order for the ships eventually went to Wärtsilä Marine and both ships were to built at their shipyard in Turku, Finland.

Design

SF Line's latest newbuilding was the MS "Aurella", delivered to the company in 1973. The "Aurella" was of a new breed of ferries crossing the Baltic, she had two decks of public spaces along with two separate car decks. Inspired by the success of the "Aurella", the newbuildings' design resembled her closely although more cabins and larger public spaces were added.Fact|date=April 2008

Naming

SF Line's earlier ships were all named with the suffix "-ella" with the prefix taken from names of the regions where the ships sailed. Thus the "Kapella" had her name taken from the port of Kapellskär, the "Marella"'s from Mariehamn and the "Aurella"'s from the Aura River in Turku. In this manner, the first of the newbuildnings was named the "Turella", the name deriving from the city of Turku.Fact|date=April 2008 The second ship got her name, "Rosella", from the region of Roslagen (the coastal areas north of Stockholm).cite web |url=http://www.vikingline.se/pdf/Pressmeddelande/PrM2008-04-08.pdf |title=M/S "Rosella" snart tillbaka i Roslagens skärgård: Viking Line ersätter M/S "Ålandsfärjan" med större fartyg |accessdate=2008-04-08 |date=2008-04-08 |work=Viking Line press release |publisher=Viking Line |format=PDF |language=in Swedish]

Building and Delivery

The "Turella" was put into Viking Line traffic between Turku and Stockholm on June 15th, 1979. The "Rosella" had been laid down during autumn 1978 and was launched on August 14th, 1979. Nine months later, on May 21st 1980, the "Rosella" was delivered to SF Line. Because of the additional conference facilities added on deck 8 on the "Rosella", she was better suited for the Turku-Stockholm route than her older sister, which she replaced on the route on May 23rd, 1980. The Turella by then replaced the "Marella" on the Naantali—Mariehamn—Kapellskär route .

ervice History

During her entire career, the "Rosella" has been a part of the fleet of Viking Line. She has served on the longest time and on more routes than any other Viking Line ship.

Turku—Mariehamn—Stockholm (1980—1988)

Along with Rederi Ab Sally, SF Line had opened the Viking Line route between Turku and Stockholm with the "Marella" in 1974. When delivered, the "Rosella" was SF Line's biggest and best suited ship for the route. The "Rosella" serviced on the route until the delivery of the MS "Amorella" on October 14th 1988.Fact|date=April 2008

Naantali—Mariehamn—Kapellskär (1988—1993)

In 1987 SF Line made an agreement with Stena Line to sell the "Rosella" to them once the "Amorella" was delivered in March 1988. However, the "Amorella"'s delivery was delayed by seven months, meaning the "Rosella" could not be delivered to Stena in time for the summer season 1988, and SF Line had to pay them compensations. In the end Stena and SF Line reached an agreement where the "Turella", which was in better condition and easier to convert for the traffic Stena planned her for, was sold instead of "Rosella". [fi icon [http://www.fcbsweb.com/forum/index.php?topic=9391.msg42169#msg42169 FCBS Forum: Sliten konkurssin syyt ja seuraukset + muuta 1980-90-l. taitteen Vikingistä] , retrieved 26. 9. 2007] As a result the "Rosella" took over the "Turella"'s role on the Naantali—Mariehamn—Kapellskär route, replacing her sister for the second time.

Turku—Mariehamn—Stockholm (1994—1997)

After the collapse of Rederi AB Slite, the other Viking Line partner, in 1993, SF Line was forced to reorganise its operations. After construction of additional cabins in place of the cardeck on deck 4, "Rosella" returned to the Turku—Mariehamn—Stockholm route in January 1994. During the summer seasons of 1995 and 1996 MS "Cinderella" replaced "Rosella" on the Turku route,sv icon [http://www.faktaomfartyg.se/cinderella_1989.htm Fakta om Fartyg: MS "Cinderella" (1989)] , retrieved 26. 9. 2007] freeing her to operate car-passenger friendly Naantali route during the high season.

tockholm—Mariehamn cruises (1997—2003)

When Viking acquired MS "Gabriella" in 1997, [sv icon [http://www.faktaomfartyg.se/frans_suell_1992.htm Fakta om Fartyg: MS "Frans Suell" (1992)] , retrieved 26. 9. 2007] the "Rosella" was replaced on the Turku—Stockholm service by MS "Isabella". [sv icon [http://www.faktaomfartyg.se/isabella_1989.htm Fakta om Fartyg: MS "Isabella" (1989)] , retrieved 26. 9. 2007] In the new situation the "Rosella" started making 24 (later 20/22) hour cruises from Stockholm to Mariehamn under the marketing name "Dancing Queen" during the winter season, but still returned to the Naantali—Mariehamn—Kapellskär route for the summer months. In 1999 the summer route's eastern terminus was changed to Turku, allowing Viking to give up the terminal at Naantali completely.

Helsinki—Tallinn (2003—2008)

Fearing losses after the termination of tax-free sales between Finland and Estonia after Estonia joined the EU in 2004, Viking Line decided to swap the routes of "Rosella" and "Cinderella" in autumn 2003. "Rosella" began a ferry-service between Helsinki and Tallinn with two daily departures from both ports, while the "Cinderella" (now renamed "Viking Cinderella") took over "Rosella"'s Stockholm—Mariehamn cruise itenary. Due to high prices the "Rosella"'s new route was extremely unpopular during the first year and the company strongly considered selling the ship.Fact|date=September 2007 However, after prices were lowered the ship's popularity increased, to the extent that in 2006 Viking Line decided to order a new fast ferry for the Helsinki-Tallinn route, the MS "Viking XPRS". [ [http://www.vikingline.fi./about/press_releases/viking_xprs.asp Viking Line press release: Viking XPRS – a new concept on the Helsinki-Tallinn route] , retrieved 26. 9. 2007] The "Viking XPRS" replaced "Rosella" on the route on April 28, 2008.

Kapellskär—Mariehamn (2008—2009)

On 30 May, 2008, the "Rosella" replaced the MS "Ålandsfärjan" on the Kapellskär—Mariehamn route. She will remain there until the new "Viking ADCC" is delivered in summer 2009.cite web |url=http://www.temp.nyan.ax/epaper/671528.htm |title=Rosella ersätter snart Ålfen |accessdate=2008-04-09 |last=Törnroth-Särkinen |first=Titte |date=2008-04-09 |work=eNyan |publisher=Nya Åland |format= |language=in Swedish] The "Rosella"'s future after this date is uncertain.

Decks

# Engine room
# C-class cabins
# Cardeck
## Cardeck (hydraulic platform that can be lowered to divide the car deck in two giving space for two layers of passenger cars)
# B- and A-class cabins, suites
# Café Seaside, Sea Shop, children's playroom, "Air seats", smoking room, Pub/Café, Fun Club, Casino
# Viking Buffét, B- and A-class cabins, crew accommodations
# Crew accommodations, sundeck
# Crew accommodations, conference rooms
# Bridge [ [http://www.vikingline.fi./onboard/rosella/cut_away.asp Viking Line fact sheet on MS "Rosella"] , retrieved 26. 9. 2007]

References

External links

* [http://www.vikingline.fi/onboard/rosella/ Viking Line official website for MS "Rosella"]

fi:M/S Rosella
sv:M/S Rosella