Effoa

Infobox Defunct Company
company_name = Finland Steamship Company / Effoa
company_
fate = Merger
successor = EffJohn
foundation = 1883
defunct = 1990
location = Helsinki, flag|Finland
industry = Cargo and passenger shipping
key_people =
products =
num_employees =
parent =
subsid = Silja Line
Finncarriers
Finnlines
[
[http://www.genealogia.fi/emi/emi321ne.htm Finland Steamship Company's Emigrant Ships at genealogia.fi] , retrieved on December 4, 2006] ]

Effoa was a Finnish shipping company founded in 1883 by Captain Lars Krogius as the Finland Steamship Company [ [http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/finland.htm Finland Steamship Company Ltd. at TheShipsList] , retrieved on December 4, 2006] or "Finska Ångfartygs Aktiebolag" in Swedish, "Suomen Höyrylaiva Osakeyhtiö" in Finnish. The company was usually referred to as FÅA, an abbreviation of the original Swedish name. In 1976, the company changed its name to "Effoa", a phonetic spelling of the abbreviation FÅA.

The company was a founding member of the Silja Line consortium. [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20070207130500/http://www.silja.com/en/corporateInformation/history/ Silja Line official website "History" saved at archive.org Feb 07, 2007] , retrieved on November 15, 2007] In 1975 FÅA founded Finncarriers together with Finnlines as a joint freight operations venture. At the same time FÅA gave up passenger traffic between Finland and Germany, the ships used on the route were sold to Finnlines. In the 1980s both Finncarriers and Finnlines became fully owned subsidiaries of Effoa. In 1989 Effoa decided to give up its freight-carrying operations, and its shares of Finnlines were transferred to Effoa's owners. [ [http://www.finnlines.fi/uploads/m5g052j12bv8h.pdf Finnlines' 55 Years] , retrieved February 16, 2007] Effoa stopped trading as an independent company in 1990 when its freight operations were demerged to form an independent Finnlines, while the passenger operations were merged with Johnson Line (the other partner in Silja Line at the time) to form EffJohn.

After World War II, in 1945, FÅA was the first company to restart passenger traffic between Helsinki and Stockholm, using S/S "Wellamo". The same ship was also the first to start passenger traffic between Helsinki and Tallinn after World War II in 1965. [ [http://www.faktaomfartyg.se/wellamo_1927.htm Fakta om Fartyg, S/S Wellamo (1927)] , retrieved February 16, 2007]

hips

* S/S "Arcturus" (1899-1957) - Passenger ship that operated primarily on the Hanko—Copenhagen—Hull route.
* S/S "Wellamo" (1927-1967) - Restarted Helsinki—Stockholm and Helsinki—Tallinn traffic after World War II. Scrapped in 1969.
* M/S "Ilmatar" (1964-1980) - As of 2007 the casino cruise ship M/S "Palm Beach Princess".
* M/S "Finlandia" (1967-1976) - Effoa's first modern car/passenger ferry. Status as of 2007, casino cruise ship M/S "Golden Princess" in Hongkong.
* M/S "Aallotar" (1972-1978) - First ship to start year-round traffic between Helsinki and Stockholm. Scrapped in 2004.
* M/S "Finlandia" (1981-1990) - Largest cruiseferry of her time. Later M/S "Queen of Scandinavia" of DFDS Seaways.
* GTS M/S "Finnjet" (1986-1990) - Purchased from Enso-Gutzeit. The longest and fastest cruiseferry of her time (still fastest as of 2008).

References

External links

* [http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/finland.htm Finland Steamship Company at TheShipList]
* [http://www.silja.com/en/corporateInformation/history/ Silja Line company website]