M/S Wasa Queen

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M/S Wasa Queen is a cruiseferry, currently sailing between Hong Kong and Xiamen for Cruise Ferries, a daughter company of Star Cruises. She was built in 1975 by Dubegion-Normandie S.A., Nantes, France for Steamship Company Bore, Finland as M/S Bore Star.

1 History
2 Specifications
3 External links

[edit] History

[edit] 1975-1986

In 1972 the Finnish-Swedish ferry consortium Silja Line started around-the-year car/passenger ferry traffic between Helsinki and Stockholm, the capitals of Finland and Sweden respectively. The route proved highly profitable and after just one year of traffic Silja Line's owners (Finland Steamship Company, Rederi AB Svea and Steamship Company Bore) decided that each company would order a ship of identical design from the same shipyard that had build the 1972 ships.

M/S Bore Star was the last of the new ships to be delivered, in December 1975. However it turned out that there weren't actually enough passengers for three ships in year-round traffic. As a result the Bore Star was chartered to Finnlines immediately after delivery. Until May 1976 she cruised around the Canary Islands and West Coast of Africa under the trade name Finnpartner (her official name remained unchanged). In June 1976 Bore Star was finally set on the traffic she was built for, and sailed as a third ship on the Helsinki - Stockholm service alongside her sisters M/S Svea Corona and M/S Wellamo until the end of October 1976 (she also briefly served on the Turku - Stockholm route in May and September). Between October 1976 and May 1977 Bore Star was again chartered to Finnlines for cruising in the Atlantic.

From June 1977 onwards Bore Star served on the Helsinki - Stockholm route. In the beginning of the year 1979 Steamship Company Bore changed its name to Bore Line. At this time passenger numbers on the Baltic Sea were raising rapidly and Finland SS Co (which had changed its name to Effoa in 1976) and Svea were planning to build new ships for the Helsinki - Stockholm service. Bore wanted to concentrate on freight traffic and as a result the company sold it's share of Silja Line to the other owners in July 1980, and Bore Star's ownership passed to Effoa. In September of the same year the ship was renamed M/S Silja Star. In 1981, when the new Helsinki - Stockholm ships were delivered she was placed on the Turku - Mariehamn - Stockholm service, sailing alongside her sister Svea Corona. In January 1986 she was replaced on that route by the new M/S Wellamo and sold to Sea Containers.

[edit] 1986-1992

After being sold to Sea Containers the Silja Star was rebuilt at Lloyd Werft, Bremerhaven, Germany. In April 1986 she re-emerged as M/S Orient Express and started sailing on a route connecting Venice, Pireus and Istambul. Between December 1986 and April 1987 the ship was chartered to Club Sea Inc. who used for cruising on the Caribbean as M/S Club Sea. After the charter she returned to her previous name and route until 1989 when she was chartered to Europe Cruise Line (who were in part owned by her old owners Effoa) as M/S Eurosun for cruising on the Mediterranean. In December of the same year Europe Cruise Line bought the ship, but in May 1990 she was chartered back to Sea Containers, again renamed Orient Express and set on the Venice - Istambul service. From November onwards she returned to Europe Cruise Line and under the name Eurosun.

In September 1991 the ship was sold to Orient Line (owned by EffJohn, the company resulting from a merger between Effoa and Johnson Line), renamed M/S Orient Sun and started ferry service between Singapore and Jakarta, Indonesia. Like her previous routes this would prove to be short-lived. In March 1992 the ship ceased trading in the Far East and returned to the Baltic Sea.

[edit] 1992-

Between April and May 1992 the Orient Sun was rebuilt at Kotkan Telakka Oy, Kotka, Finland, for service on EffJohn's subsidiary Wasa Line. With the name M/S Wasa Queen she started service between Vaasa in Finland and Sundsvall in Sweden on May 15, 1992. In addition to the Vaasa - Sundsvall route she also sailed from Vaasa to Umeå. Wasa Line did not have much time left, however. EffJohn reorganised their operations in December 1993 in order to cut costs, and as a part of this operation Wasa Line was merged into Silja Line. Wasa Queen was repainted in Silja Line's colours, but this time (somewhat surprisingly) her name wasn't changed, and she was kept on traffic from Vaasa.

Profits on the lines from Vaasa were on the decline however, and between January and May 1996 Wasa Queen sailed on the fast-growing Helsinki - Tallinn route. For the summer season of 1996 she returned to Vaasa - Umeå service, but from September 1996 until September 1999 the Wasa Queen served continuously between Helsinki and Tallinn. During this time her timetables varied depending on whether she was the only Silja Line ship on the route or not. Until April 1997 she sailed alongside M/S Silja Festival, with only one departure from each port per day. After Silja Festival stopped sailing on the route, Wasa Queen had two daily departures from each port. However starting from October 1997 GTS Finnjet spent the winter season sailing between Helsinki and Tallinn, and again during this time Wasa Queen had only one daily departure (during the times when Finnjet was on the route she also used Finnjet's terminal at Katajanokka, not Silja Line's normal Olympiaterminal).

In September 1999 Wasa Queen returned to sail from the city she was named after. During the same year tax free sales ended in traffic within the EU, meaning that most profits on the Vaasa - Umeå service disappeared. On December 31, 2000, Silja Line closed down traffic across kvarken completely, and Wasa Queen was laid up in Vaasa awaiting potential buyers. In July 2000 she was chartered as a hotel ship to the G8 meeting in Genoa. At the end of that charter, on July 28, the ship was sold to Star Cruises and set sails for Singapore. In September 2000 she sailed for two weeks from Singapore under the banner of Star Cruises' new daughter company Cruise Ferries, after which she started traffic between Hong Kong and Xiamen.