Finnish Shipping News

Finnish shipping company Meriaura announced it has placed an order for two Ecotrader cargo ships from Dutch shipyard Royal Bodewes. The ships will be built in Hoogezand for scheduled delivery in January and December 2026.The ships are 105 meters long, 1A ice classed 6750 DWT vessels, designed to achieve the lowest possible emission levels, Meriaura said. Like the EcoCoaster vessels Eeva VG and Mirva VG delivered in 2016, the newbuilds will be capable of operating on biofuel made from recycled raw material produced by Meriaura’s subsidiary VG-Ecofuel.

Finnish companies have designed about 80 percent of the world’s icebreakers, and about 60 percent of them have been built by Finnish shipyards.Finland is home to a strong and vibrant maritime cluster, with a mix of large, medium and small shipyards, as well as a deep pool of marine engineering expertise and a broad network of vessel equipment suppliers.As one of the world’s northernmost countries, Finland is also home to a fleet of icebreakers that keep imports and exports flowing through its harbors, even during the coldest winter months.

Finnish shipping company Wasaline announced it has started operating with certified biogas one day a week from October 13, in preparation for the EU emissions trading system that will come into force next year.The company, which operates the route connecting Vaasa, Finland and Umeå, Sweden, said it will use certified biogas aboard its ro-pax vessel Aurora Botnia for all Friday departures through December 22 as part of its “Green Fridays” pilot project.Biogas is more expensive than liquefied natural gas (LNG)…

Rederiaktiebolaget Eckerö, a Finnish shipping company providing passenger and cargo ferry services, has agreed to sell the M/S Birka Stockholm cruise ship to Rederi AB Gotland. The sale price is around 38 million euros.Delivery of the vessel to Rederi AB Gotland is expected to occur in April 2023.The ship sale will cause a write-down amounting to around 12 million euros in Rederiaktiebolaget Eckerö's Annual Report for 2022, which will be published on April 12, 2023. "This write-down deviates from the Q4 quarterly report that was published on February 28, 2023," Rederiaktiebolaget Eckerö explained.Built in 2004 by Aker Finnyards in Rauma, Finland, the Birka Stockholm is 177 meters long, 28 meters wide, and can accommodate 1800.

Finnish shipping company Langh Ship announced it has ordered three 7,800 dwt newbuild cargo ships from Wuhu Shipyard in China.The first vessel is expected to be delivered in summer 2023 followed by its two sisters soon thereafter.The vessels will operate in a regular service between Outokumpu’s steel mills in northern Finland and the Netherlands. The cargo holds will be equipped with tween decks for steel coil carriage, a special design by Langh Cargo Solutions.Langh Ship said it developed the vessel design in close cooperation with Outokumpu to make the ships as energy efficient…

Finnish shipping company Finnlines has appointed Tom Pippingsköld as vice president and deputy CEO. In this new position Pippingsköld serves as the deputy to the president and CEO.Pippingsköld has been CFO of the ro-ro and passenger shipping operator since October 1, 2013. He will continue in his current position and is in charge of the group’s finance, administration, legal, human resources, communications and IT functions.Finnlines, part of the Italian-based Grimaldi Group, said Pippingsköld is a member of the executive committee and reports to the president and CEO, Emanuele Grimaldi.

Finnlines’ first of three new hybrid ro-ro vessels was launched at the Nanjing Jinling Shipyard in China on Monday. The vessel, Finneco I, will start sailing on the Finnish shipping company’s Biscay–North Sea–Baltic Sea service at the turn of the year. The series’ second and third vessels, Finneco II and Finneco III, will be delivered in 2022.The new vessels are 238 meters long with a cargo capacity of 5,800 lane meters. Additionally, car decks have a capacity of 5,800 square meters and about 520 TEU on the weather deck.

Finnish shipbuilder Rauma Marine Constructions (RMC) said on Wednesday that it has secured an order from Australian shipping company TT Line Company to build two car and passenger ferries at the Rauma shipyard.The newbuild order comes after TT Line, also known as Spirit of Tasmania, withdrew from a previous memorandum of understanding (MOU) last July while the Tasmanian government-owned company investigated options to produce the vessels locally to help offset economic impacts from the coronavirus pandemic.RMC revealed Wednesday that negotiations resumed in March this year…

In 2019 Finnish shipping company Eckerö coated the open cargo deck of their roro passenger ferry Finbo Cargo with Ecospeed. This was done to protect the deck against damage from cars and cargo. One year later the deck was still in excellent condition, in strong contrast to previous years. As a result, Eckerö decided to coat the ice belt and most of the hull with Ecospeed to offer it the same lasting protection.“We coated the weather deck with good result,” said Daniel Olsén, Technical Manager with Eckerö Group.

MAN Energy Solutions has won the order to supply six MAN B&W 9S50ME-C9.6 Tier II-compliant main engines for three 238-meter roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) vessels intended for operation in the Baltic Sea. The customer is Finnlines PLC., the Finnish shipping company and part of the Grimaldi Group. MAN Energy Solutions’ two-stroke licensee – Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (Engine & Machinery Business Unit) – will build the engines in Korea, while Nanjing Jinling shipyard in China will construct the vessels.

Finnish shipping company Meriaura, part of Meriaura Group, announced that general cargo ship M/V Friendland (DWCC 4450 t) has joined its fleet.Friendland (built 2002) has dead weight/volume ratio (7200 m3) and is therefore a welcome addition to the fleet, because the need for cubic tonnage is growing.Friendland has wide breadth (15,0 m) that makes her suitable also for carrying logs and timber, as well as project cargoes.The 2002 built vessel is time chartered long term from a partner, whose vessels Meriaura already has in its fleet."Our fleet consists of modern and versatile dry cargo ships and newly-built multipurpose deck cargo carriers designed for project and special cargo," said a press release from company.

Finnish shipping company Langh Ship said that it takes environmental matters into account in their day-to-day operations, and efforts to improve the state of the world’s seas are important to all Langh companies."The environmental perspective has been at the core of the Langh companies’ operations for some time now, and the companies are a partner of the John Nurminen Foundation and a supporter of the Foundation’s Clean Baltic Sea projects," said a press release from the owner of the fleet capable of operating in challenging Northern conditions.Langh Tech’s closed loop scrubbers were installed in Langh Ship’s five cargo vessels back in 2013 and 2014.

Trelleborg’s marine and infrastructure operation has been awarded a contract to install its rope-free automated mooring system, AutoMoor, at the Old City Harbor at the Port of Tallinn, which is the biggest harbor in Estonia and one of the busiest passenger harbors in the world.In first quarter of 2020, Trelleborg will install six units of its AutoMoor T40 Twin Arm at the Old City Harbor’s Berth 13 cruise ferry wharf to facilitate faster berthing processes and improve safety levels within the port environment.

Finnish shipping technology group Wartsila has merged its Puregas Solutions and biogas liquefaction teams to form a new Biogas Solutions unit that will offer its customers a ‘one-stop-shop service’ for advanced biofuel production.Wärtsilä Biogas Solutions, a unit with expert capabilities in liquefying upgraded biogas for end-customer use, offers products for biogas upgrading to biomethane, and the liquefaction of biomethane into bioLNG."Currently, our market share in this field is almost 60 percent, and we expect this to continue to grow as we further develop our capabilities,” says Arne Jakobsen, General Manager, Wärtsilä Biogas Solutions.Wärtsilä has earlier provided the turnkey installation for the world’s largest bioLNG facility located in Skogn…

ABB Ability Marine Pilot Visionis designed to allow MS Finlandia to enhance safety during maneuvering and dockingABB and Eckerö Line teams will install ABB Ability Marine Pilot Vision on board cruise ferry MS Finlandia with no interruption to the ship’s schedule. In addition to the mechanical interface, ABB Marine & Ports Digital Service teams will support the crew to maximize the value from the system and integrate the additional tool with their current bridge team operations.ABB…

Finnish shipping company Meriaura has signed new time charter-in agreements covering five vessels.The five vessels that will join the company’s fleet include a deck cargo carrier, two multipurpose-heavy lift dry cargo vessels and two traditional dry bulk carriers said a press note from Meriaura, specializing in the transport of industrial raw materials and project cargo on the Baltic Sea and in Europe.M/S Enough Talk is a deck cargo carrier of the same type and size as Meriaura’s deck cargo carriers Aura and Meri. Time chartering of M/S Enough Talk significantly increases Meriaura’s cargo capacity and position in the field of demanding project cargo shipments in Northern Europe.

Aalto Shipping Company, a new Finnish shipping company, is starting operations. The shipping company is owned by Taaleri and its customers together with the acting management. Aalto Shipping Company has acquired to its fleet two modern, ice-strengthened dry bulk carriers and has started operating them. The ships will be moved under the Finnish flag over the coming months. “The shipping company project restores tonnage to Finnish hands, since the vessels will operate under the leadership of Finnish officers. The ships acquired now are familiar farers of the Baltic Sea, and one of them previously served the Finnish paper industry for many years,” says Tatu Laurila, Managing Director of Aalto Shipping Company Oy.

Finnish shipping operator Finnlines, part of the Grimaldi Group, has placed a service order with Alfa Laval to optimize the performance of its existing Alfa Laval PureSOx scrubber systems. The performance agreement was tailored for Finnlines using the Alfa Laval 360° Service Portfolio, a structured selection of defined service offerings. The Alfa Laval performance agreement with Finnlines covers PureSOx systems installed on board seven RoRo vessels: Finnpulp, Finnmill, Finnhawk, Finnkraft, Finncarrier, Finnmaster and Finnmerchant.

Norsepower Oy Ltd., provider of auxiliary wind propulsion systems, announced that it has signed an agreement with Finnish shipping company Viking Line to install its Rotor Sail Solution onboard the M/S Viking Grace, an LNG-fuelled cruise ferry. The 57,565 GT M/S Viking Grace currently operates in the archipelago between Turku (Finland) and Stockholm (Sweden), and is already one of the most environmentally-friendly cruise ferries in the global maritime industry. With the addition of Rotor Sail technology, the vessel will further reduce its emissions, fuel burn and fuel costs; reducing carbon emissions by circa 900 tonnes annually; equivalent to cutting 300 metric tons of LNG fuel per year.

Siemens has been commissioned to provide the complete electro-technical solution for Finland’s first battery-powered car ferry. The Finnish shipping company FinFerries has ordered the newbuilding from the Polish shipyard CRIST S.A. The environmentally-friendly ferry will improve the transport options between Nauvo and Parainen in the Turku Archipelago. It will be approximately 90 meters long by 16 meters wide with capacity for a maximum of 90 cars. Operation on the 1.6 kilometer-long route will begin in summer 2017.

Stena RoRo has reached an agreement with the Finnish shipping company Godby Shipping to long-term charter their three RoRo vessels Misida, Misana and Miranda. The configuration of the vessels is very flexible and they can thus be employed in both the Stena RoRo and the Stena Line networks. Three easy accessible RoRo decks enable fast turnaround in port and this, combined with their high service speed, satisfies the demand for punctual high-frequency service. “We are very satisfied with the agreement, which we believe is clearly in tune with the times in relation to the market situation. We note that growth in our niche is good and we are optimistic about the future”, says Per Westling, Managing Director, Stena RoRo.

Siemens said it has secured a contract to supply propulsion systems for two new The all-electric battery ferries to be operated by Fjord1 on the E39 Anda-Lote route on the west coast of Norway. Both vessels will have a cargo capacity of 120 cars, 12 trailers and 349 passengers. Operation on the 2.4 kilometer-long route will start in January 2018. With this contract, the first four battery-driven ferries in the world will run on technology developed and manufactured by Siemens, the company noted.

First luxury cruise sailed Northwest Passage in Aug-Sept; Voyage will be repeated next summer. A surge in Arctic tourism is bringing ever bigger cruise ships to the formerly isolated, ice-bound region, prompting calls for a clamp-down to prevent Titanic-style accidents and the pollution of fragile eco-systems. Arctic nations should consider limiting the size of vessels and ban the use of heavy fuel oil in the region, industry players said, after a first luxury cruise ship sailed safely through Canada's Northwest Passage this summer. The route, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans via the Arctic, was once clogged with icebergs but is now ice-free in summer due to global warming.