GTS Finnjet

  • Da Vinci
  • Kingdom

IMO no. 7359632

The Finnjet was a gas turbine ship to September 2005 reversed last on the Baltic Sea between Rostock and St Petersburg. It had a reinforced hull and a corresponding drive system (highest Finnish - Swedish ice class 1A Super). Conceived by the Finnish shipping company Finnlines for the service between Germany and Finland, started her career in 1977. 1986 the ship sailed for Finnjet Line. Repeated change of ownership changed Finnjet 1987 in the fleet Silja Oy Ab With a maximum speed of 33 knots ( almost 61 km / h) she was the fastest conventional ferry in the world.

That in the Wärtsilä shipyard in Helsinki, completed ship offered 1,686 passengers and nearly 400 parking space. 565 cabins with 1,550 beds were available. The ship was 215 feet long, 25 feet wide and had a tonnage of 32,975 GT.

On the later traveled route from Rostock to St. Petersburg Finnjet for the crossing needed with a stopover in Tallinn 36 hours.

History

Originally Finnjet was used from 1977 to 1997 on the Travemünde- Helsinki route. Here we reached a cut travel time compared to its predecessors ships in 22 hours thanks to the high speed. The ship had a built-in changing container facility at which the loading and marina mooring time was reduced to two hours. This made it possible, with only one ship to reach a scheduled circulation between Travemünde and Helsinki in the 48-hour rhythm. Especially in winter, the drive proved costly but as non-economic, they began to build in addition to the gas turbines in Amsterdam 1981 diesel engine, which should make the slower winter drives profitable. By the opening of the "Iron Curtain" were in Finland short cruises in the Estonian capital Tallinn popular, which resulted in a change of Finnjet route 1997: Upgraded to continue tourists on the fast link between Germany and Finland, it was in the summer of 1997 in the winter Helsinki -Tallinn operated. As of June 1999, the port of Rostock was then started and added Tallinn as a stopover in the timetable in Germany instead of Travemünde. The route was unprofitable By eliminating the provisions for the duty-free shopping on routes within the EU, a fundamentally changed market conditions (eg due to new competition, but also by shifting travel routes on budget airlines ) and rising fuel costs and, through the new slower connection replaces the Baltic States and Russia.

The scheduled service on the Baltic Sea was set by the Silja Line due to unsatisfactory operating results and financial difficulties of the parent company in September 2005.

In connection with Hurricane Katrina Finnjet was eventually hired by the Louisiana State University in Shreveport. She lay between October 2005 and June 2006, moored at a pier at the port of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in the Mississippi River and served as a shelter for the medical school. SeaContainers sold in June 2006 its shares in Tallink Silja Line to the Estonian group, but retained some ships from the Silja fleet, to be sold separately; including Finnjet.

The end

The Finnjet was sold end of December 2007 for about 11 million U.S. dollars to the Dutch shipping company Club Cruise and on 16 January 2008 renamed Da Vinci. The Da Vinci left Freeport on 25 January 2008 in the direction of Genoa. After a stopover from 7 to February 11 in Gibraltar she arrived in Genoa on February 18. The plan to rebuild it in a cruise ship, has not been implemented due to financial difficulties of the Dutch shipping company. Any resale for use as a casino ship also failed.

In early May 2008 it was announced that Da Vinci was sold for 9.85 million dollars for breaking a company to India.

The registered in the Marshall Islands Turkish ship broker MSK Maritime Services & Trading Ltd.. announced that two of its customers had submitted offers and these negotiated with the Indian companies. The one offer stipulated that the ship on the Red Sea between Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, Suez in Egypt and Port Sudan wrong. The other offer provided for use in the Mediterranean between Ghazaouet in Western Algeria and Sète in France.

The ship left Genoa on May 6 with target Jeddah. 24 May 2008 reported U.S. Shipbrokers that Da Vinci was renamed the Kingdom ( Panamanian flag ) and leaves for India on 25 May Jeddah. On May 27, the Kingdom was stopped outside of Jeddah for further negotiations. A group of investors from Turku tried to acquire and transfer to Finland the ship. On an unofficial fansite possible donations or investment funds for the future of Finnjet were collected. Sailors were willing to convict Finnjet without remuneration to Finland on the page.

The Kingdom reached on 13 June 2008, the Indian Alang, where the ship was set on June 19 on the beach.

According to the Indian ship breaking the ship could still be harmless drawn from the current position back to deeper waters. As it has not yet started with the dismantling of the interior, there were still efforts, mainly in Finland to get Finnjet for posterity.

Specifically, the initiative was "Pro Finnjet " in Turku. The ship should remain there in the harbor with a combined use concept. The plan was to use a large part of the cabins as a student residence. At this time, there have been many speculations regarding the current state of the vessel. To provide clarity in this regard and also to investigate the possibilities of refloating, a three-member team of experts was sent to India on 21 August 2008.

On 12 September 2008 announced "Pro Finnjet " that all efforts had failed to save the ship. On the same day in India began the demolition of the hull.

Swell

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