Construction of Finnlines’ Next Vessel Kicks Off in China

Finnlines' newbuilding program is continuing as planned despite service disruptions and market upheaval brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. 

Construction of the Finnish RoPax operator’s newest environmentally friendly vessel commenced Monday with the steel cutting in the Chinese Nanjing Jinling shipyard.

The newbuild is one in a series of of three environmentally friendly hybrid 238 roll-on, roll-off (RoRo) vessels on order. In addition to lithium-ion battery systems that enables zero-emission operations in port, they will be equipped with efficient engines, emission abatement systems and an innovative air lubrication system to reduce hull resistance. The vessels will also have the highest Finnish/Swedish ice class.

The first ro-ro vessel is expected to start operation as early as next year, followed by the other two in 2022.

In addition, Finnlines has ordered two giant Superstar vessels, which it says will be pioneer in honoring green values. The total investment including five new vessels is EUR 500 million ($567.7 million).

“The new vessels will modernize our fleet further and offer us the lowest possible fuel consumption and emissions. These will be the most innovative and efficient RoRo vessels in the world,” says Emanuele Grimaldi, CEO of Finnlines.

Length: 238 meters
Breadth: 34 meters
DWT: 17,400 metric tons
Cargo capacity: 5,800 lane meters; 5,600 square meters of car decks; about 300 TEU on weather deck
Flexible for all type of ro-ro cargo while tank top and main deck are shaped with strengthened bulkheads and free of pillar areas to accommodate paper and sto-ro concept