M/S Silja Europa

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Silja Europa approaching Mariehamn in 2005.

M/S Europa in Viking Line's colors. Postcard from circa 1993.

The M/S Silja Europa, operated by Silja Line, is one of the largest cruiseferries in the world. It was originally built at Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany for the ferry operator Rederi AB Slite, a part of Viking Line. The ferry was already painted in Viking Line's colors and almost ready to be handed over, when the Swedish krona was devaluated by 10%, which led Slite into economical difficulties. Slite could not pay for the ship so Meyer Werft kept it and soon managed to charter it to Viking Line's rival, Silja Line. It was put on the Helsinki—Stockholm route, replacing M/S Silja Serenade which was put to the Turku—Mariehamn—Stockholm route, but Europa and Serenade had to exchange routes soon as Serenade had troubles navigating in the Turku archipelago.

The world's first floating McDonald's restaurant was located onboard Silja Europa from its maiden trip until 1996 when it was closed down and replaced by Silja Line's own hamburger restaurant.

[edit] Facts

Name:	Silja Europa
Type:	Motor ship
Built at:	Meyer Werft, Papenburg, Germany
Building year:	1993
Operator:	Silja Line
Route:	Turku—Mariehamn/Långnäs—Stockholm/Kapellskär
Length:	201.8 m (662 ft)
Breadth:	32.5 m (106 ft)
Draft:	6.8 m (22 ft)
GT:	59,914
Machinery:	Four MAN 6L58/64 diesels, effect 31,800 kW
Max speed:	21.5 kt (40 km/h, 24.7 mph)
Ice Class:	1A Super
Number of passengers:	3,013
Number of beds:	3,644
Number of cars:	400
Port of registry:	Mariehamn
Flag:	Finland
Former names and owners:	M/S Europa, Rederi AB Slite (Viking Line), 1993
Sister ships:	None

[edit] Events

January 23, 1993. The M/S Europa is launched.
March 5, 1993. Named Silja Europa in Hamburg, Germany.
March 6, 1993. Is registered to Fährschiff Europa KB, Mariehamn, Finland. Chartered to Silja Line for a period of 10 years.
March 14, 1993. Replaces Silja Serenade on the Helsinki—Stockholm route. Makes its maiden voyage.
September 28, 1994. Is the first one to receive the Mayday message from the sinking M/S Estonia. The rescue operation, where tens of ships participate, is in the beginning led by Silja Europa's captain Esa Mäkelä.
January 12, 1995. Replaces Silja Serenade on the Turku—Mariehamn—Stockholm route.
January 13, 1995. Runs aground close to Furusund, due to the misconfigured steering electronics. Continues with its own engine to Stockholm, where it is taken out of order and delivered to Naantali for repair.
January 18, 1995. Back in traffic.
October 10, 1996. Early in the morning, a passenger reports to the reception that he has seen someone jump overboard. It is reported to the captain who forwards it to the Swedish coast guard. He does not stop the ship though, but continues to Stockholm. Later the Swedish coast guard finds the person, a female passenger, from the sea. Her body temperature is very low and she dies a couple of days later in the hospital in hypothermia. The ship's captain is later prosecuted for not stopping like he should have, and is found guilty but is not punished.
August 20, 1997. Collides with a German sailing-boat in a fog, south of Lemland. The German couple and their dog are rescued to one of Europa's lifeboats. The sailing-boat starts leaking in water and is later taken to Degerby at Föglö by the coast guard.
December 24, 1997 to December 26, 1997. A special Christmas cruise from Turku to Riga.
August 1, 1998. Silja Europa is close to colliding with the Greek cruise ship Jason, in the Stockholm archipelago between the islands of Värmdö and Rindö.
November 21, 1998. At about 2 AM in the night, when Silja Europa is arriving at the port of Mariehamn, it crashes in the bridge due to a strong squall. It got minor damages and had to stay in Mariehamn for a while to get its damages inspected.
December 24, 1998 to December 26, 1998. A special Christmas cruise from Turku to Riga.
July 1, 1999. Placed on the Turku—Mariehamn/Långnäs—Stockholm route; it had to stop at Åland both on the way to Stockholm and back in order to have tax free sale.
December 7, 1999. Arrived in Turku four hours too late due to the rough sea. The next cruise was cancelled entirely.
December 18, 1999. Both Silja Europa and Silja Festival had to pass the stop at Långnäs due to the rough sea. This caused some tax problems as the stop was required for the tax free sale.
December 24, 1999 to December 26, 1999. A special Christmas cruise from Turku to Riga.
December 31, 1999 to January 1, 2000. A special millennium cruise from Turku to Kapellskär.
January, 2000. Catalytic converter installed at Aker Finnyards in Rauma. The funnel is also painted blue, and the safety system is renewed.
May 8, 2000. The Finnish Seamen's Union requests Silja Europa, Silja Serenade and GTS Finnjet not to leave their harbours. It is a protest to Silja Line for recruiting a crew with no proper employment contract on their new SuperSeaCat Four speedliner. Europa, however, leaves Turku three hours too late. The other ships leaves their harbours the next morning. Europa doesn't take any passengers in Stockholm the next day.
June 16, 2000. Somebody is reported to have fallen overboard. Silja Europa, several other ships, and both the Finnish and Swedish coastguard take part in the searches. However, nobody is found. Also, according the passenger lists, everybody is still on board Europa.
July 19, 2000. Encounters problems with one of the propellers and is taken out of order for five days. The problem is attempted to be fixed in the port of Turku but it turns out to be a problem on the exterior of the ship. The passengers that have come to Turku and need to get back to Stockholm have to wait the entire day in the Turku harbour. They are finally let back in to the ship at 2 AM. Europa had to be taken to the yard in Helsinki as the one in Naantali was occupied.
December 23, 2000 to December 25, 2000. A special Christmas cruise from Turku to Riga.
January 3, 2001. Silja Line announces that Europa will start sailing to Långnäs instead of Stockholm in the winter, and to Stockholm only in summertime. The reason is told to be the changed requirements by the passengers, although the real reason is assumed to be the high fuel prices.
January 7, 2001 to January 19, 2001 Stops at Långnäs instead of Mariehamn.
March 1, 2001 to May 14, 2001. Moved to the Turku—Mariehamn/Långnäs—Kapellskär route.
March 18, 2001. Encounters problems with the autopilot when arriving in Turku; the machine supervision system gives false alarms all the time and Europa starts sailing in a circuit. It is escorted to Turku by three tugs. It has to cancel one cruise when the system is maintained.
May 15, 2001 to August 31, 2001. Back on the Turku—Mariehamn/Långnäs—Stockholm route.
July 4, 2001. Has to wait outside Mariehamn for a couple of hours as Viking Line's ships, Amorella and Isabella, couldn't get out of there. There was a black-out in Mariehamn and their boarding ramps couldn't be removed before without electricity.
July 19, 2001. Encounters some minor problems with the steering and has to pass Mariehamn when sailing to Turku.
September 1, 2001. Placed on the Turku—Mariehamn/Långnäs—Kapellskär route.
September 2, 2001. Is somewhat delayed as it has to stop to participate in search for somebody missing from another ship.
October 2, 2001. A fire is set to a cabin but is extinguished quickly. Instead of Kapellskär, the ship is taken to Stockholm where the Swedish police arrests one man.
November 1, 2001. Europa cannot get to the Turku harbour due to the rough sea and requires a tug to help it.
December 23, 2001 to December 25, 2001. A special Christmas cruise from Turku to Stockholm.
May 5, 2002 to August 31, 2002. Back on the Turku—Mariehamn/Långnäs—Stockholm route.
August 31, 2002. Interior renewed at Vuosaari in Helsinki.
September 8, 2002. Back to traffic. Placed on the Turku—Mariehamn/Långnäs—Kapellskär route.
September 28, 2002. A female passenger falls overboard and swims to a nearby islet, from where she is rescued later.
December 24, 2002 to December 26, 2002. A special Christmas cruise on the route Turku—Långnäs—Stockholm.
May 5, 2003. Placed on the Turku—Mariehamn/Långnäs—Stockholm route.
September 9, 2003. Placed on the Turku—Mariehamn/Långnäs—Kapellskär route.
December 22, 2003 to December 26, 2003. Temporarily on the Turku—Mariehamn/Långnäs—Stockholm route.
January 22, 2004 to January 29, 2004. Working as a hotel ship in Stockholm
May 3, 2004 to August 29, 2004. Placed on the Turku—Mariehamn/Långnäs—Stockholm route.