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M/V Princess Maria,
originally MS Finlandia, was built in 1981 by
Wärtsilä
company at the Perno shipyard in Turku, Finland for Silja Line company.
Was owned by DFDS Seaways as of late. MS Finlandia was the first big
modern ferry vessel built for Silja Line. At that time she also was also
considered the biggest in the world in terms of capacity, number of
berths and volume.
Finlandia was initially made "fat" for taking the maximum number of
vehicles on board, but this made the vessel extremely hard to sail,
especially in the winter period. As a result, Finlandia was sent to
docks in January 1982 (after eight months of service), to Perno shipyard
in Turku, for giving her a more graceful shape. After the reconstruction
at
Wärtsilä shipyard in Turku additional cabins were built
and restaurants were renovated. Finlandia's interiors were greatly
reconstructed at the Wärtsilä shipyard in Helsinki in 1985.
In September 1988 MS Finlandia was sold to Suomen Yritysrahoitus
conpany. On May 6th 1990 Finlandia made her last trip to Stockholm and
left for Cytyvarvet in Goetheborg. Five days later she was given a new
name - MS Queen of Scandinavia. In June 1990 she began her service in
DFDS company operating on the Copenhagen-Halsingborg-Oslo route.
In January-April 2000 MS
Queen of Scandinavia was rebuilt in Gdynia, Poland.
In June 2001 MS Queen of
Scandinavia was transferred to Newcastle-IJmuiden route.
In June 2007 MS Queen of
Scandinavia changed its route to Newcastle-Stavanger-Bergen-Haugesund.
In February 2009 MS Queen
of Scandinavia was chartered and moved to Oskarshamn harbor, Sweden for
being used as a living quarters for the workers.
Since December 2009 the
vessel is charted by the Danish police, relocated to Copenhagen.
Since 2010: The vessel was purchased by St. Peter Line company for
operating on a new route Helsinki-St. Prtersburg starting from April
2010. The new name of the vessel is Princess Maria.
09.04.2010 At 12:00 Danish
time a gala ceremony was held on board of M/V Princess Maria, the Danish
ensign being hauled down and Maltese one hoisted. |
