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Tallink (OMX: TAL1T) is an Estonian shipping company currently operating Baltic Sea cruiseferries and ropax ships from Estonia to Finland, Estonia to Sweden, Latvia to Sweden and Finland to Germany. They also own Silja Line, SeaWind Line and a part of SeaRail[1].
[edit] History[edit] Background History of the company known today as Tallink can be traced back to the year 1965 when the Soviet Union-based Estonian Shipping Company (ESCO) started passenger traffic between Helsinki and Tallinn with MS Vanemuine.[2] Regular around-the-year traffic was started in 1968 with MS Tallinn, which served on the route until she was replaced by the new MS Georg Ots in 1980.[3][4] [edit] 1989–1992In May 1989 ESCO formed a new subsidiary, Laevandusühisettevõte Tallink, together with the Finnish Palkkiyhtymä Oy. In December of the same year ESCO and Palkkiyhtymä purchased MS Scandinavian Sky from SeaEscape, and the ship began traffic on the Helsinki—Tallinn route in January 1990 as MS Tallink.[5] Later in the same year the freighter MS Transestonia joined the Tallink on the Helsinki—Tallinn route[6] and Tallink was established as the name of the company as well as the main ship. At the same time ESCO still operated the Georg Ots in the same route, essentially competing with its own daughter company. This conflict was resolved in September 1991 when the Georg Ots was chartered to Tallink.[5] In the early 90's passenger numbers on Helsinki—Tallinn traffic were steadily increasing, and during winters between 1992 and 1995 Tallink chartered MS Saint Patrick II from Irish Ferries to increase capacity on the route.[7] [edit] 1993–2000 Tallink became a fully Estonian-owned company in 1993 when Palkkiyhtymä sold its shares of both the Tallink company and MS Tallink to ESCO.[5] At this time other companies were establishing themselves on the lucrative Helsinki—Tallinn traffic, including the Estonian New Line, owned by the Tallinn-based Inreko.[8] ESCO and Inreko saw no sense in competing with each other and in January 1994 Tallink and Inreko Laeva AS were merged into AS Eminre.[9] Tallink remained the marketing name for the company's fleet.[5][10] Later in the same year Inreko purchased MS Nord Estonia from EstLine (a daughter company of ESCO and the Swedish Nordström & Thulin Ab), renamed her MS Vana Tallinn and placed her in Helsinki—Tallinn traffic for Tallink.[11] Inreko also brought with them two fast hydrofoils, HS Liisa and HS Laura which began serving under the Tallink Express brand.[12] In 1994 Tallink also attempted traffic from Estonia to Germany for the first time, with two chartered ferries MS Balanga Queen and MS Ambassador II that were placed on the route Helsinki—Tallinn—Travemünde.[13][14] In September 1994 AS Eminre's operations were divided into two companies, one that took care of the traffic to Germany (which was soon closed down) and AS Hansatee which took the Helsinki—Tallinn traffic and the Tallink name.[8][9] ESCO was clearly the dominant partner in Hansatee, controlling 45 % of the shares, whereas Inreko owned only 12,75 % (the remaining 42,25 % belonging to Eesti Ühispank, Estonia).[5] In 1995 Hansatee brought the first large ferry into Helsinki—Tallinn traffic when they chartered MS Mare Balticum from EstLine and renamed her MS Meloodia.[15] Following various disputes between ESCO and Inreko (most notably about the charter price of Vana Tallinn), Inreko sold their shares of AS Hansatee to ESCO in December 1996.[8] At the same time Inreko sold the Tallink Express hydrofoils to Linda Line, Estonia, and begun operating the Vana Tallinn on Helsinki—Tallinn traffic under the name TH Ferries.[8][11] In 1997 a second large ferry was brought to Tallink's traffic when the company chartered MS Normandy from Stena Line.[16] To replace the lost hydrofoils, Hansatee purchased a new express catamaran in May 1997, which was named MS Tallink Express I.[5][17] At this time it was clear that two large ferries were needed for traffic between Helsinki and Tallinn, and when the Normandy's charter ended in December 1997 Tallink purchased MS Lion King from Stena Line, which entered traffic in February 1998 as MS Fantaasia.[18] In July of the same year Tallink purchased the freighter MS Kapella which opened a line from Paldiski to Kappelskär,[19] Tallink's first route to Sweden.[5] In October the original MS Tallink, which no longer conformed modern safety regulations, was sold.[20] Two months later Hansatee purchased the their first fast ferry capable of carrying cars, HSC Tallink AutoExpress.[21] [edit] 2000–2006 By the year 2000 ESCO had become the sole owner of EstLine, and in December 2000 EstLine's two ferries MS Regina Baltica and MS Baltic Kristina were chartered to Hansatee, and the line between Tallinn and Stockholm began to be marketed as a part of Tallink.[5][22] A few months earlier, in August 2000, Hansatee had ordered their first newbuild from the Finnish Aker Finnyards.[23] In June 2001 Tallink purchased HSC Tallink AutoExpress 2,[24] while next month EstLine was declared bankrupt. In 2002 AS Hansatee changed its name into AS Tallink Grupp,[9] and in May of the same year the company took delivery of the brand new 2500-passenger cruiseferry MS Romantika, which was placed on Helsinki—Tallinn traffic.[5][23] In November of the same year the classic Georg Ots was sold to the government of Russia.[4] In 2004 three news ships joined Tallink's fleet, HSC Tallink AutoExpress 3[25] and HSC Tallink AutoExpress 4[26] alongside the Romantika's sister MS Victoria I which was placed on Tallinn—Stockholm route,[27] replacing MS Fantaasia which in turn started a new route from Helsinki to St. Petersburg via Tallinn. This route proved unprofitable and was terminated in January 2005.[18] Later in 2005 Tallink ordered a sister ship of the to-be delived MS Galaxy[28] and a fast ropax ferry from Aker Finnyards[29] as well as another ropax ferry from the Fincantieri yard in Italy.[30] On December 9, 2005, Tallink was listed at Tallinn Stock Exchanges.[5] [edit] 2006–presentIn 2006, Tallink purchased the Baltic Sea operations of Superfast Ferries from Attica Group, opened a route between Riga and Stockholm[5] (with MS Fantaasia,[18] which was within a month replaced by MS Regina Baltica[31]), took delivery of the new MS Galaxy[32] which replaced Romantika on the Tallinn–Helsinki route (Romantika was transferred the Tallinn—Stockholm route).[23] A few months later Tallink purchased rival Silja Line from Sea Containers Ltd.[5] In October of the same year the company expressed interest in making an offer to operate ferries on the state-subsidiarised routes between Gotland and the Swedish mainland for the period between 2009 and 2015.[33]  From the beginning of 2007 the former Superfast ships were moved under the Tallink brand and their route changed to Tallinn—Helsinki—Rostock.[34][35][36] At the same time Meloodia was chartered to Balearias, Spain for ten months.[15] In April of the same year the company ordered a third Galaxy-class cruiseferry from Aker Yards.[37] In November Tallink reported the Meloodia would be sold to an undisclosed Singapore-based company with delivery in December of the same year.[38] [edit] Controversies[edit] Ignored man overboardIn April 2006 Tallink's ferry MS Regina Baltica, en route from Tallinn to Stockholm, ignored when multiple passengers reported that a passenger had fallen overboard. The crew refused to stop the ship to search for the passenger and the 21 year-old Estonian male perished in the incident. Tallink later accepted no responsibility for the accident, emphasizing that none of the passengers confirmed actually seeing the man falling overboard or in the water.[39] [edit] Employee abuseIn October 2006, the board of Tallink held a meeting on board their ship MS Silja Symphony. During the night, the party got out of control and became headline news in Sweden, Estonia and Finland. Media claimed that the board members assaulted personnel, abused them verbally and threatened to fire the whole crew when they tried to calm them down. [edit] Fleet[edit] Current fleetIn the most recent Tallink Silja Line brochure (spring 2007) and TallinkSilja website, the names of all ships include a "Tallink" -prefix. However their registered names remain as listed below.
[edit] Former vessels
[edit] References
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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