MS Fantaasia

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Career
M/S Fantaasia in St. Petersburg in 2004
Name:	1979-1988: Turella 1988-1996: Stena Nordica 1996-1998: Lion King 1998 onwards: Fantaasia
Owner:	1979-1988: SF Line 1988-1996: Stena Line 1996-1997: Lion Ferry 1997-2008: Tallink
Operator:	1979-1988: SF Line (in Viking Line traffic) 1988-1996: Stena Line 1996-1997: Lion Ferry 1997-2005: Tallink 2005: Algerie Ferries 2006: Tallink 2006-2007: COMANAV 2007: Algerie Ferries 2007 onwards: Kystlink
Builder:	Wärtsilä Turku, Finland
Yard number:	1242
Launched:	1978-11-21
Acquired:	1979-06-04
In service:	1979-06-15
Homeport:	1979-1988: Mariehamn, Finland 1988-1996: Gothenburg, Sweden 1996-1998: Halmstad, Sweden 1996 onwards: Tallinn Estonia
Status:	In service
General characteristics (as built)
Tonnage:	16504 GRT
Displacement:	3700 metric tons of deadweight (DWT)
Length:	136,11 meters
Beam:	24,24 meters
Draught:	5,40 meters
Installed power:	4 × Wärtsilä-Pielstick 12PC2-2V diesels 17650 kW
Speed:	21,5 knots
Capacity:	1700 passengers 740 passenger beds 554 cars
Notes:	Sister ship to M/S Rosella
General characteristics (currently)
Tonnage:	16504 GRT
Displacement:	3700 DWT
Length:	136,11 meters
Beam:	24,24 meters
Draught:	5,40 meters
Installed power:	4 × Wärtsilä-Pielstick 12PC2-2V diesels 17650 kW
Speed:	21,5 knots
Capacity:	1800 passengers 862 passenger beds 425 cars

MS Fantaasia is a cruiseferry owned by the Estonian ferry company Tallink. She is currently under charter to Kystlink, Norway. She was built by Wärtsilä Shipyards, Turku, Finland for SF Line for use in Viking Line traffic.

1 History
2 References
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] History

[edit] 1979-1987

The cheapest bid to build SF Line's new ferry was actually made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, but the Finnish Government subsidised Wärtsilä so that they could eventually underbid Mitsubishi and hence get more jobs to Finland.^[1] The new ship's interior and exterior design was basically an extended version of M/S Aurella from 1973.^[2] The ship, eventually named M/S Turella, was delivered on 4 July 1979, 11 days ahead of schedule. She was initially placed on Viking Line's Turku—Mariehamn—Stockholm service,^[1] but when her sister M/S Rosella was delivered the next year, Turella was moved to the less prestigious Naantali—Mariehamn—Kapellskär route.^[1]^[3]

[edit] 1988-1996

In September 1988 SF Line took delivery of the new M/S Amorella, which replaced Rosella on the Turku—Stockholm route. Originally SF Line had agreed to sell the Rosella to Stena Line upon delivery of the new ship. However due to the Amorella being delivered seven months behind schedule the Rosella could not be delivered to Stena when originally agreed. In the end the Turella was sold instead of Rosella, as it was generally in a better condition and easier to convert for the traffic Stena planned her for.^[4] After rebuilding at Cityvarvet, Gothenburg, the Turella re-emerged as M/S Stena Nordica (a name carried by many Stena Line ships over the years). Stena Nordica was placed a route connecting Gothenburg to Fredrikshavn in Denmark and Moss in Norway. She also occasionally served on the Gotheburg—Kiel route when the ships normally sailing that route were docked. In 1996 Stena Nordica was rebuilt at Öresundsvarvet, Landskrona, Sweden, transferred to the fleet of Stena's subsidiary Lion Ferry and renamed M/S Lion King. During the next 1,5 years she sailed on routes Halmstad (Sweden) — Grenå (Denmark) and Karlskona (Sweden) — Gdynia (Poland).^[1]

[edit] 1996-2005

In the end of the year 1997 Lion King was sold to Tallink, who renamed her M/S Fantaasia and placed her on the Helsinki—Tallinn route (where she served alongside her old Viking Line fleetmate M/S Meloodia).^[1] In 2002 after the delivery of the new M/S Romantika, the Fantaasia was moved to the Tallinn—Stockholm route, where she sailed alongside another old fleetmate from the Viking Line days, M/S Regina Baltica.^[1]^[5]^[6] In 2004 the new M/S Victoria I replaced Fantaasia on the Tallinn—Stockholm route,^[7] and from the start of April of the same year Fantaasia opened a new Helsinki—Tallinn—St. Petersburg route for Tallink.^[1] Due to a rise in port fees issued by the Russian government and due to visa regulations not being prognosed to get any better between Russia and the European Union as it had been presumed when the line was started, the line was terminated by Tallink on January 2, 2005.^[8]

[edit] 2005-present

Following the collapse of the St. Petersburg traffic, the Fantaasia was swiftly chartered to Algerie Ferries for duration of nine months, during which she sailed between France and Algeria. After the end of the charter she spent some five months laid up in Tallinn until she was placed on Tallink's new Riga—Stockholm route in April 2006.^[1] However after little over a month of traffic she was replaced by the larger Regina Baltica,^[1]^[6] and subsequently chartered to COMANAV until April 2007. Following the end of charter to COMANAV, she was again chartered to Algerie Ferries until October 2007.^[1]

Following the second Algerie Ferries charter, the Fantaasia was chartered to the Norway-based Kystlink^[9] for three months (with an option for three additional months) from^[1]^[10] to replace their M/S Pride of Telemark that is being repaired following an accident where the ship rammed the breakwater at Hirtshals, Denmark.^[11] Before entering service for Kystlink, Fantaasia was be docked at Cityvarvet, Gothenburg.^[12] On November 15 the Swedish Maritime Authority Sjöfartsinspektionen deemed the ship unsafe and prohibited it from leaving Cityvarvet until 18 faults found during the inspection were fixed.^[13] Twelve of the faults were considered severe, including several permanently open watertight doors, a nonfunctional loudspeaker system, blocked emergency exists and nonfunctional winches used for lowering lifeboats.^[14]^[15] According to Tallink, the inspection was made while refitting of the ship was still in process, which they cited as the reason why several onboard systems were turned off-line and normal safety procedures were not observed.^[16] On 11 December the ship entered service with Kystlink on their Langesund—Hirtshals and Langesund—Strömstad routes.^[1]