Viking line

The beginning of the Viking Line can be considered the year 1959, when the shipping company Rederi AB Vikinglinjen was established on the initiative of the sea captain Gunnar Eklund. For its needs, a 1924 built S / S Viking ferry was purchased, which began regular traffic along the Galtby route (Korpo Island, Finland) - Mariehamn (Aland Islands) - Gredde (Sweden) and became the first car ferry connecting Finland and Sweden.

Four days after the first S / S Viking voyage, Rederi AB Slite opened a link between Simpnes and Mariehamn using the M / S Slite freighter converted under a fleet of vehicles. In 1962, Gunnar Eklund left the company Rederi AB Vikinglinjen, which remained in the possession of the owner of Rederi AB Sally Algot Johansson, due to disagreements.

In 1963, after leaving Vikinglinjen, Gunnar Eklund founded the new shipping company Ålandsfärjan AB and acquired a 1933 S / S Ålandsfärjan motor vehicle for it, which began to run along the Mariehamn-Gredde route.

In the early 60s, three shipowning companies (Vikinglinjen, Slite, Ålandsfärjan) competed not only among themselves, but also with Silja Line and the three companies belonging to its co-owners. Therefore, in 1966, Rederi AB Vikinglinjen, Rederi AB Slite and Ålandsfärjan AB began a new stage of cooperation, establishing the marketing company Vikinglinjen Ab.

On August 19, 1966, the new company was entered in the commercial register, its share capital was 30,000 marks, and each co-owner subscribed to a third of the shares. At the same time, all co-owners of the marketing company Vikinglinjen repainted their ships in red and white, following the example of Slite, and Rederi AB Vikinglinjen was renamed Rederi AB Solstad, becoming a subsidiary of Rederi AB Sally.

On May 3, 1970, a M / S Kapella vehicle fleet, operating on the Naantali (Finland) - Mariehamn - Kapelsher (Sweden) route, delivered a five hundred thousand passenger car to the port of Naantali.

In 1970-1993 Vikinglinjen Ab continued to evolve through the interaction of three shipping companies. However, in 1987, Rederi AB Sally fell into a difficult economic situation and was bought by the owner of Silja Line. After that, the other two Viking Line companies (Rederi AB Slite and Ålandsfärjan AB, renamed SF Line AB) bought out Rederi AB Sally's stake in the marketing company Vikinglinjen Ab.

In 1993, Rederi AB Slite went bankrupt, the remaining SF Line AB ceased operations of the old company and was renamed Viking Line Abp.

Former company ships

Currently, the following shipping companies are part of Viking Line Abp:

• Viking Rederi Ab (formerly Finlandshamnen).
• OÜ Viking Line Eesti.
• Viking Line Skandinavien Ab.
• Viking Line Finnlandverkehr Gmbh - responsible for sales and marketing in Germany.
• Viking Line Buss Ab - responsible for bus transportation.

For the operation and operation of each vessel is responsible its management, consisting of a captain, ship mechanic and quartermaster . Viking Line has its own port terminals in Stockholm and Turku. In Helsinki, Mariehamn, Kapelsher and Tallinn, the premises required for terminal operations are rented.

Starting March 20, 2014, the company’s executive director is Jan Hanses, who took the place of the dismissed Michael Backman. The chairman of the board is Ben Lindquist.

The Viking Line headquarters is located in Mariehamn.

In 2013, the company transported 6,533,650 passengers and 119,704 units of cargo.

Viking Line provides passenger, freight and cruise trips to the Baltic Sea. Valid routes:

• Turku - Mariehamn / Longnes - Stockholm;
• Helsinki - Mariehamn - Stockholm;
• Mariehamn - Kapelsher;
• Mariehamn - Stockholm;
• Helsinki - Tallinn.

Specially for servicing the Helsinki-Tallinn line, the Viking Line ordered the Viking XPRS passenger ferry from the shipbuilding company STX Europe . The construction of the ferry at the Helsinki shipyard began on April 16, 2007, and on September 19, 2007 the ship was launched. In October 2010, Viking Line announced the construction of a new passenger ferry at the STX Europe shipyard in Turku - M / S Viking Grace with a capacity of 2800 passengers. The new ferry is designed to serve the Turku - Mariehamn - Stockholm route and replace the M / S Isabella ferry on this section. The transaction value amounted to 240 million euros.

On April 5, 2013, Viking Line announced the sale of the M / S Isabella ferry to the Estonian company Tallink for 30 million euros.

Almost all of the company's vessels (except the newest Viking XPRS and Viking Grace ) are named with female names ending in -ella : Gabriella, Mariella , Amorella, Rosella, Cinderella. This tradition was established in honor of the wife of the creator of the company, whose name was Ellen, which in a diminutive way sounds like Ella.

At the time of its construction in 2013, the M / S Viking Grace was declared the most environmentally friendly passenger ship of large capacity. Power units of the ferry operate on liquefied natural gas and exclude harmful emissions into the environment ^[2] .

• Tallink Silja Oy Ab (Estonia; Finnish company Silja Line has been part of Tallink since 2006) - the largest ferry operator in the Baltic. Turnover of 897 million euros (2009/2010)
• Ave Line (Latvia) is a small ferry operator operating on the Baltic Sea .
• St. Peter Line is a small ferry operator in the Baltic Russia.
• Eckerö Line is a small Baltic ferry operator in the Aland Islands , Finland. Turnover of 60 million euros (2009/2010) ^[3]
• Birka Line (Stockholm - Mariehamn),
• Linda Line (Tallinn - Helsinki),
• DFDS (Paldiski - Kapelsher),
• Navirail (Paldiski - Hanko),
• Finnlines (Finland - Germany),
• Finnlink (Naantali - Kapelsher)

On December 14, 2013, a short circuit occurred on the Amorella ferry from Turku to Stockholm due to repairs in the engine room, after which the ship lost control and ran aground off the Aland Islands . On its own, the liner managed to get aground and proceed to the port of Mariehamn , where passengers were transferred to other vessels. According toMichael Buckman , Executive Director of Viking Line, the cause of the accident was the human factor ^{[4] [5]} .

• Official site
• Company ships at Fakta om Fartyg (neopr.) . Archived on May 24, 2012. (Swede.)
• LXA Cabin on Gabriella Ferry (link not available)