Birka Line

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Birka Paradise is Birka Line's flagship, built in 2004

Birka Line is an Ålandian shipping company that operates a cruise ship on the Baltic Sea with Stockholm as the starting point under the name Birka Cruises, as well as cargo-carrying ships under the brand Birka Cargo. During the 1970s the company was often marketed as Ålandslinjen. Since May 2007 Birka Line has been a daughter company of Rederiaktiebolaget Eckerö.^[1]

1 History
2 Fleet
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

Birka Line was founded in 1971, they bought M/S Prinsessen from DFDS and renamed her M/S Prinsessan. On November 21, she made her first voyage between Stockholm and Mariehamn. In 1972, Prinsessan's sister ship M/S Olav was bought and renamed M/S Baronessan. In 1973 Birka started traffic on the routes Stockholm — Helsinki with M/S Freeport and Stockholm — Helsinki — Leningrad with M/S Drottningen. However, due to rising fuel costs and the high fuel consumption of the Freeport, both lines were terminated in late 1973. The Freeport was sold to Rederi AB Svea and the Drottningen returned to her owners SJ. The company continued operating with the Prinsessan and Baronessan until 1978. The first Prinsessan was renamed Prinsen to free the name for a newer ship, M/S Finnhansa that was purchased from Finnlines in January 1978 and renamed M/S Prinsessan. In 1980 the Baronessan was sold to Panamian interests.

On April 22, 1986, Birka's first newbuilding M/S Birka Princess was delivered from the Valmet Vuosaari shipyard in Helsinki. With the delivery of the new ship, the company became marketed as Birka Cruises, as an attempt to show the it's focus on cruises. The following year the Prinsessan was sold to Louis Cruise Lines, becoming their M/S Princesa Marissa. In 1990 Birka Line purchased the majority of United Shipping.

In the late 80's the company placed an order for a second cruise ship, to operate alongside the Birka Princess, from Wärtsilä Turku shipyard. The ship was to be named M/S Birka Queen, but during construction the shipyard went bankrupt, radically raising the cost of the ship. Birka did not accept delivery of the ship with such a high price, and the ship was instead completed for Majesty Cruise Line as M/S Royal Majesty. In place of the Birka Queen Birka Line purchased M/S Sunward from Norwegian Cruise Line in May 1992, and renamed her M/S Birka Queen for cruising from Stockholm to Riga and St. Petersburg. In October the same year, the ship was chartered back to NCL. Although she remained under Birka Line ownership until 1997, the second Birka Queen never sailed for Birka Line again.

In 1999 the Birka Princess was rebuilt with additional cabins and more streamlined superstructure. In January 2002 Birka Line purchased the entirety of United Shipping which was renamed Birka Cargo. In November of the same year the company placed an order for a new cruise ship with Aker Finnyards, Rauma. The ship was completed as M/S Birka Paradise in 2004. The ship was delivered in a time when there was a very strong competition for cruise and ferry passengers on the northern Baltic Sea. Due to lack of passengers and because of financial problems, the Birka Princess was sold to Louis Cruise Lines in early 2006. On 8 March 2007 it was reported that the fellow Ålandian shipping company Rederiaktiebolaget Eckerö was looking to purchase Birka Line in its entirety (Eckerö already owned 42% of Birka Line).^[2] On 24 May 2007 it was reported that a public offer made by Eckerö had increased their ownership in Birka Line to 57,9 %.^[3] On May 28 Birka Line officially became a daughter company of Eckerö Line.^[1]

[edit] Fleet

[edit] Birka Cruise

MS Birka Paradise

[edit] Birka Cargo

MS Birka Carrier
MS Birka Exporter
MS Birka Express
MS Birka Shipper
MS Birka Trader
MS Birka Transporter
MS Baltic Excellent

[edit] Former fleet

MS Prinsessan (1971-1977) / MS Prinsen (1977-1978) - scrapped 1987
MS Baronessan (1972-1980) - scrapped 2003
MS Freeport (1973-1974) - now MS Discovery Sun for Discovery Cruise Line
MS Drottningen (1971-1977) - scrapped 2005
MS Prinsessan (1978-1987) - now MS Princesa Marissa for Louis Cruise Lines
MS Birka Princess (1986-2006) - sunk 2007 as MS Sea Diamond (Louis Cruise Lines)
MS Birka Queen (1992) - now MS Boudicca for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines
MS Birka Forest (2002-2004) - now MS Westwood Pomona for Westwood Shipping Lines