Hansatee News

Aker Finnyards is building for the Estonian Hansatee Group, trading as Tallink, a big cruise ferry for the Gulf of Finland traffic. The vessel will have capacity for 2,500 passengers and 3,281 lane ft. On Friday December 14, the vessel got for the first time in its right element, as the valves were opened and she could float in the yard’s graving dock. Before the launching, she was christened as Romanika by Miss Nele Helen Pant, the daughter of Eve Pant, Hansatee Supervisory Board Member. The ferry to be delivered in May 2002 will be Estonia’s biggest cruise ferry, which is expected to open a new era in the Baltic Sea passenger traffic. Special attention has been paid to passenger comfort and luxury already when designing the vessel.

Aker Finnyards and Estonian Hansatee Group came to an agreement for the construction of a new $150.8 million cruise ferry for the Gulf of Finland traffic. The 623 ft. (189.8 m) vessel, with a beam of 94 ft. (28.8 m) will be able to hold 2,500 passengers and 1,000 lane meters. Scheduled for delivery in May 2002, the 40,000-gt ferry will be powered by four diesel engines totaling 26,000 kW with a service speed of 22 knots.

Estonian shipper Hansatee has reached an agreement with Estonian Shipping Company (ESCO) to charter two passenger ferries cruising on the Tallinn-Stockholm route from January 2, ESCO said. ESCO's development director Viktor Palmet told Reuters that Hansatee chartered the ferries Regina Baltica and Baltic Kristina without crews for six and two years, respectively, giving no further details of the contract. "Practically the deal means we (ESCO) can pursue our goal of freight shipping, having shifted the passenger ferries to the passenger shipper," Palmet said. Hansatee also has a two-year contract with ESCO to charter the ferry Meloodia on the Tallinn-Helsinki route…