Eckerö Line

Eckerö Line Ab Oy
Osakeyhtiö
Founded 1995
Headquarters Helsinki, Finland
Area served
 Baltic Sea
Key people
 Taru Keronen (President and CEO)
Services Passenger transportation
Freight transportation
Website

www.eckeroline.fi

www.eckeroline.ee
Finlandia

Eckerö Line is a Finnish shipping company owned by the Åland-based Rederiaktiebolaget Eckerö. Eckerö Line operates two ferries (one for passenger traffic, one for cargo) between Helsinki (Finland) and Tallinn (Estonia). In addition to this Rederiaktiebolaget Eckerö also owns Eckerö Linjen, Ålandsresor, Williams Buss, Algot Shipyard as well as 100% of Birka Line.

History

In 1992 Rederiaktiebolaget Eckerö and Birka Line founded a jointly-owned subsidiary Eestin Linjat to operate MS Alandia on the fast-growing route between Helsinki and Tallinn. The name of the company was reportedly selected for practical reasons as it required the change of only a few letters to re-paint Eckerölinjen into Eestin Linjat (or vice versa). Similarly the livery of Eestin Linjat was very similar to that of Eckerö Linjen. However, due to the use of the word Eesti (Estonian for "Estonia") instead of the Finnish word Viro, the Finnish public presumed the new company was an Estonian one. This was made worse after the Estonia-disaster in 1994 when many people in Finland began associating Eestin Linjat with EstLine, owners of the ill-fated MS Estonia. As a result of this Eestin Linjat changed its name into Eckerö Line in 1995 (with the livery of the ships made identical to those of Eckerö Linjen). At the same time a second ship, MS Apollo (a sister ship the Alandia and Eckerö Linjen's Roslagen) was added to the route.

In 1998 Eckerö Line acquired its first (and only) genuine cruiseferry, MS Nordlandia which replaced both of the previous ships sailing on the route. The Nordlandia also brought with it a slight change in livery as the typeface used in the ship's hull was changed from a heavy serif into a light, italicized sans-serif. In May 2004 Eckerö Line purchased the freight/passenger ferry MS Translandia as a second ship for the Helsinki–Tallinn route in response to the high demand for freight capacity after Estonia joined the European Union.

Fleet

Current

Name Built Enterered service Tonnage Notes
Finlandia 2001 2012 36,100 GT

Past

Name Built In service Tonnage Notes
Apollo 1970 1995–99 14,990 GT Now Apollo with Labrador Marine Inc
Nordlandia 1981 1998–2012 14,990 GT Now Isabella I with Trasmediterránea
Translandia 1976 2004–12 13,700 GT Broken up 2014

See also

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