MS Silja Europa

MS Silja Europa, owned and operated by Tallink, is one of the largest cruiseferries in the world. She was built at Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany for the ferry operator Rederi AB Slite, a part of Viking Line. Main architect was Per Dockson, Sweden.

History
Name: Silja Europa
Owner:
Operator:
Port of registry:
Ordered: 6 October 1989
Builder: Meyer Werft, Papenburg, West Germany
Yard number: 627
Laid down: 6 November 1991
Launched: 23 January 1993
Christened: 5 March 1993
Completed: 6 March 1993
Maiden voyage: 13 March 1993
In service: 1993–present
Refit:

(2014) Bridgeman

(2016) Tallink
Identification:
Status: In service
General characteristics
Type: Cruiseferry
Tonnage: 59,914 GT
Length: 201.8 m (662 ft 1 in)
Beam: 32.5 m (106 ft 8 in)
Draught: 6.8 m (22 ft 4 in)
Ice class: 1 A Super
Installed power:
  • 4 × MAN 6L58/64
  • 31,800 kW (combined)
Propulsion: Two shafts; controllable pitch propellers
Speed: 21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph)
Capacity:
  • 3,013 passengers
  • 3,644 passenger beds
  • 400 vehicles (932 lane meters)

The ferry was already painted in Viking Line's colors and almost ready to be handed over, when the Swedish krona was devalued by 10%, which led Slite into economic difficulties. Slite could not pay for the ship so Meyer Werft kept her and soon managed to charter her to Viking Line's rival, Silja Line. She was put on the Helsinki–Stockholm route, replacing MS Silja Serenade which was put to the Turku–Mariehamn–Stockholm route, but Silja Europa and Silja Serenade changed routes with each other in 1995.

History
MS Europa as she would have appeared in Viking Line's colors. Advance painting from circa 1992.

Europa was launched on January 23, 1993 and christened the Silja Europa in Hamburg, Germany on March 5, 1993.

  • March 6, 1993. Registered to Fährschiff Europa KB, Mariehamn, Finland. Chartered to Silja Line for a period of 10 years.
  • March 14, 1993. Makes her maiden voyage.
  • September 28, 1994. Silja Europa is the first vessel to receive the Mayday message from the sinking MS Estonia, second after MS Mariella to arrive on scene after Estonia capsized and sank. The Ship's Master Esa Mäkelä was appointed On-Scene Commander (OSC) for the rescue operation.
  • January 13, 1995. Runs aground close to Furusund, due to a failure in the automatic speed control system. Continues under her own power to Stockholm, where she is taken out of service and delivered to Naantali for repair.
  • October 10, 1996. Early in the morning, a passenger reports to the reception that he has seen someone jump overboard. This is reported to the captain, who forwards it to the Swedish coast guard. However, the captain does not stop the ship but continues to Stockholm. Later, the Swedish coast guard finds the person, a female passenger, in the sea. Her body temperature is very low and she dies a couple of days later in the hospital of hypothermia. The ship's captain is later prosecuted for not stopping as he should have, and is found guilty but is not punished.
  • August 20, 1997. Collides with a German sailing-boat in a fog, south of Lemland. A German couple and their dog are rescued by one of Silja Europa's lifeboats. The sailing-boat begins to take on water and is later towed to Degerby on Föglö by the Coast Guard.
  • January, 2000. Catalytic converter installed at Aker Finnyards in Rauma. The funnel is also painted blue, and the safety system is renewed.
  • May 8, 2000. The Finnish Seamen's Union requests Silja Europa, Silja Serenade and GTS Finnjet not to leave their harbours. This is a protest against Silja Line recruiting a crew with no proper employment contract on their new HSC SuperSeaCat Four speedliner. Silja Europa, however, leaves Turku three hours late. The other ships leave their harbours the next morning. Silja Europa doesn't embark any passengers in Stockholm the next day.
Silja Europa on one of her Christmas cruises from Turku to Riga.
  • September 28, 2002. A female passenger falls overboard and swims to a nearby islet, from where she is rescued later.
  • January 22, 2004 to January 29, 2004. Serving as a hotel ship in Stockholm
  • January 23, 2013: The ship entered Tallink's Helsinki–Tallinn service [1]
Silja Europa in Silja Line colours
  • July 21, 2014: Tallink announced that Silja Europa would be chartered to Australia for 14 months, with the possibility of extending the charter up to 4 years. The ship is to be used as an accommodation vessel supporting the Gorgon LNG Project at Barrow Island.[2]
  • January 20, 2016: Tallink announced that they bring the renewed Silja Europa back to Tallinn–Helsinki route.
  • March 13, 2016: Silja Europa returned to Tallink's Helsinki–Tallinn service.[3]

See also
  • Largest ferries of Europe

References
  1. "Silja Europa flyttar till Tallinntrafiken". Svenska YLE. 2012-11-08.
  2. "Silja Europa hyrs ut till Australien" (in Swedish). YLE. 21 July 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  3. http://www.tallinksilja.fi/14.3.2016-uudistunut-silja-europa-palasi-helsinki-tallinna-reitille
Preceded by
MS Silja Symphony		 World's Largest Cruiseferry
1993–2001		 Succeeded by
MS Pride of Rotterdam
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