MS Queen of Scandinavia

MS "Queen of Scandinavia", originally MS "Finlandia", is a cruiseferry, built in 1981 by Wärtsilä at the Perno shipyard in Turku, Finland for Effoa for Silja Line's Helsinki—Stockholm service. She is currently owned by DFDS Seaways and is currently laid up at the Port of Korsør awaiting her sale.

ervice history

1981—1990: MS "Finlandia"

Originally to be named MS "Skandia",sv icon [http://www.faktaomfartyg.se/finlandia_1981.htm Fakta om Fartyg: M/S "Finlandia" (1981)] , retrieved 6. 11. 2007] "Finlandia" was the first large, modern cruiseferry to be built for Silja Line. At the time she was also the world's largest cruiseferry in terms of passenger capacity, beds and volume. Alongside her sister MS|Silvia Regina (and Viking Line's contemporary MS|Viking Saga and MS|Viking Song) she was instrumental in changing the Helsinki-Stockholm route from a transportation service into a cruise route.

Finlandia and Silvia Regina were originally constructed with very 'fat', curving bows to maximise car-carrying capacity, but these made the ship extremely difficult to handle especially during the winter. As a result the Finlandia was docked in January 1982 (after just eight months of service) in Wärtsilä's Perno shipyard for reconstruction of her bow to a sleeker form. Following the bow reconstruction additional rebuilding was done at Wärtsilä's Turku shipyard, where additional cabins were built and repairs were carried out on the restaurants.fi icon [http://www.valkeatlaivat.net/laivasto/finlandia1981.htm M/S "Finlandia" at Valkeat Laivat] , retrieved 6. 8. 2007]

During her career for Silja Line the Finlandia enjoyed a special relationship with Mauno Koivisto, who was at the time the Prime Minister and later President of Finland. Finlandia was named by Koivisto's wife Tellervo Koivisto in 1981 and the pair travelled on Finlandia twice while Koivisto was President, first in 1984 on Wärtsilä's 150 anniversary cruise and again in 1985 when the pair made an official visit to Sweden.

In 1985 Finlandia's interiors were heavily rebuilt at Wärtsilä's Helsinki shipyard.

In September 1988 "Finlandia" was sold to Suomen Yritysrahoitus in order to raise funds for new ships for the Helsinki—Stockholm route. Suomen Yritysrahoitus then chartered the ship back to Effoa for 1½ years. In December 1989 Suomen Yritysrahoitus sold "Finlandia" to DFDS for delivery in May 1990, which was the planned delivery date for "Finlandia"'s replacement MS|Silja Serenade. However, due to the bankruptcy of Wärtsilä's shipbuilding division the "Silja Serenade" was delayed by several months. [sv icon [http://www.faktaomfartyg.se/silja_serenade_1990.htm Fakta om Fartyg: M/S Silja Serenade (1990)] , retrieved 6. 11. 2007] DFDS took delivery of the "Finlandia" as agreed in May 1990 and EffJohn (merger of Effoa and Johnson Line born in early 1990) was forced to look for a solution for its ship shortage elsewhere.

1990—present: MS "Queen of Scandinavia"

On 6 May 1990 the "Finlandia" made her last call at Stockholm and left for docking at Cityvarvet, Gothenburg in preparation for her new service. Five days later she received her new name, MS "Queen of Scandinavia". In June 1990 she began service on DFDS's Copenhagen—Helsingborg—Oslo route, initially as the pair of MS|King of Scandinavia|1975|6, originally MS "Wellamo" of Effoa, the ship that "Finlandia" had replaced on the Helsinki—Stockholm service.

In January-April 2000 "Queen of Scandinavia" was rebuilt in Gdynia, Poland, with rear sponsons and, again, a new sleeker bow. The new bow is especially notable due to the fact that it has no gate or visor, hence the ship's car decks can now only be loaded/unloaded from the rear.

In June 2001 "Queen of Scandinavia" was replaced on the Copenhagen—Oslo service by MS|Pearl of Scandinavia, and she was moved to the Newcastle—IJmuiden route. In May 2007 she swapped routes with MS|Princess of Norway, taking over the Newcastle—Stavanger—Haugesund—Bergen route. This allowed DFDS to operate two sister ships, "Princess of Norway" and the third MS|King of Scandinavia on the Newcastle—IJmuiden run. On 26 November 2007 while in the port of Bergen, the "Queen of Scandinavia" broke her forward moorings and collided with the expedition ship MS|H.U. Sverdrup II. The "H.U. Sverdrup II" was severely damaged, while the "Queen of Scandinavia" received only cosmetic damage and was able to depart for Newcastle in accordance with her normal timetable. [no icon [http://www.bt.no/lokalt/bergen/article446219.ece bt.no 26. 11. 2007: Englandsbåten krasjet ved kai] , retrieved 26. 11. 2007]

DFDS Seaways closed down the loss-making United Kingdom—Norway service with the "Queen of Scandinavia" making her final sailing on 2008-09-01. Following this the "Queen of Scandinavia" sailed to Korsør where she will stay until she is either sold or chartered out to another company.. [cite web |url=http://www.newsguardian.co.uk/latest-news/DFDS-Seaways-to-close-route.4122783.jp |title=DFDS Seaways to close route with loss of 340 jobs |accessdate=2008-07-08 |last=McLean |first=Anthony |coauthors= |date=2008-05-27 |work= |publisher=NewsGuardian ] [cite web |url=http://www.dfds.com/DFDSGROUP/EN/Press/Companyannouncement.htm |title=Extensive improvement plan to safeguard earnings at DFDS Seaways |accessdate=2008-07-08 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date=2008-05-27 |work=DFDS press release |publisher=DFDS ]

References

External links

* [http://www.dfds.co.uk/DSW/EN/OnBoard/nshb/ DFDS Seaways UK page for Queen of Scandinavia]

fi:M/S Queen of Scandinavia