Viking Line
Type	Public (OMX: VIK1V)
Founded	1963
Headquarters	Mariehamn,  Åland,  Finland
Area served	Northern Europe
Key people	Nils-Erik Eklund (CEO)
Industry	Shipping
Products	Ferries, port services, passenger transportation, freight transportation, holidays, business travel
Revenue	▲ 436. A public company usually refers to a company that is permitted to offer its registered securities ( Stock, bonds, etc OMX AB ( A ktie' b' olaget O ptions' m' äklarna/Helsinki Stock E' x' change is a Swedish - Finnish Financial Demographics A chart on population growth Sister cities Mariehamn is twinned with Visby, Sweden Kópavogur Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. Northern Europe is a term for the northern part of Europe. The United Nations defines Northern Europe as (Finland A chief executive officer ( CEO) or chief executive is typically the highest-ranking corporate officer ( executive) or administrator For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" Shipping is physical process of Transporting goods and Cargo. In Marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a Market that might satisfy a want or need In business revenue or revenues is Income that a company receives from its normal business activities usually from the sale of goods and services 02 million Euro (2006/2007) [1]
Operating income	▲ 33. Please update other articles as well to avoid contradiction within Wikipedia e In financial and business Accounting, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT is a measure of a firm's profitability that excludes interest and income tax expenses 78 million Euro (2006/2007) [1]
Employees	2,907 (2006/2007) [1]
Website	www.vikingline.fi/

Viking Line is a Finnish shipping company that operates a fleet of ferries and cruiseferries between Finland, the Åland Islands, Sweden and Estonia. Please update other articles as well to avoid contradiction within Wikipedia e Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. See also Merchant ship A ferry is a form of transport usually a Boat or Ship, used to carry (or ferry) passengers and A cruiseferry is a ship that combines the features of a Cruise ship with a Ro-Pax ferry. Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia ( Eesti or Eesti Vabariik) is a Country in Northern Europe in the Baltic region Viking Line shares are quoted on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. The Helsinki Stock Exchange ( Finnish: Helsingin Pörssi, Swedish: Helsingforsbörsen) is a Stock exchange located in Viking Line is operated from the Åland Islands.

Company history

Early Years: 1959-1966

Viking Line ships (MS Gabriella & MS Rosella) in Helsinki, November 2006.

Viking Line's history can be traced back to 1959, when a group of sea- and businessmen from the Åland Islands province in Finland formed Rederi Ab Vikinglinjen, purchased a steam-powered car-ferry SS Dinard from the UK, renamed her SS Viking and began service on the route Korpo (Finland) — Mariehamn (Åland) — Gräddö (Sweden). Demographics A chart on population growth Sister cities Mariehamn is twinned with Visby, Sweden Kópavogur ^[2][3] In the same year the Gotland-based Rederi AB Slite began a service between Simpnäs (Sweden) and Mariehamn. is a county, province and municipality of Sweden and the largest Island in the Baltic Sea. Rederi AB Slite was a Swedish Shipping company, founded in 1947 ^[4]

In 1962, a disagreement caused a group of people to leave Rederi Ab Vikinglinjen and form a new company, Rederi Ab Ålandsfärjan, who began a service linking Gräddö and Mariehamn the following year. Year 1962 ( MCMLXII) was a Common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. SF Line was the name of the Finnish shipping company presently known as Viking Line. ^[3]

Soon the three companies, all competing for passengers between Åland Islands and Sweden, realised that they in the long run all stood to lose from mutual competition. In 1965 Vikinglinjen and Slite began collaborating,^[4] and in the end of July 1966 Viking Line was established as a marketing company for all three companies. ^[3][2] At this time Rederi Ab Vikinglinjen changed their name to Rederi Ab Solstad, in order to avoid confusion with the marketing company. ^[3] The red hull livery was adopted from Slite's Ålandspilen service^[4][5] (to which it had been taken from the colour of the chairman's wife's lipstick!^[6]). In 1967 Rederi Ab Ålandsfärjan changed its name to SF Line^[7] and in 1977 Rederi Ab Solstad was merged into its mother company Rederi Ab Sally. Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. SF Line was the name of the Finnish shipping company presently known as Viking Line. Also 1977 (album by Ash. Year 1977 ( MCMLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays Rederi Ab Sally was a Finnish shipping company founded in the 1937 by Algot Johansson ^[8]

1967-1985

Because Viking Line was only a marketing company, each owner company retained their individual fleets and could choose on which routes to set their ships (naturally there was also co-ordination on schedules and such). Each company's ships were easy to distinguish by name: all Sally ships had a "Viking" prefix on their names, Slite took their names from Roman and Greek mythologies, while SF Line's names ended with -ella in honor of managing director Gunnar Eklund's wife Ellen Eklund.

During the 1970s Viking expanded greatly and overtook Silja Line as the largest shipping consortium on the Northern Baltic Sea. Silja Line ( Tallink Silja Oy) is a Finnish ferry company owned by the Estonian Ferry operator Tallink. The Baltic Sea is a Brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N Latitude and from 20°E to 26°E Longitude. Between 1970 and 1973 Slite and Sally took delivery of five nearly identical ships built at Meyer Werft Germany, namely MS Apollo and MS Diana for Slite, and MS Viking 1, MS Viking 3 and MS Viking 4 for Sally. The Meyer Werft is one of the remaining large German Shipyards headquartered in Papenburg. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. History Viking Line service M/S Diana was the fourth in a series of six near-identical sisters built between 1970 and 1974 for Rederi Ab Sally and MS Viking 5, delivered in 1974, was an enlargened version of the same design. ^[9] These so-called Papenburg sisters can be considered to be one of the most successful ships designs of all times (the shipyard built three additional sisters of the original design for Transbordadores for ship services in Mexico: Coromuel,^[10] Puerto Vallarta^[11] and Azteca^[12]). Papenburg is a city in the district of Emsland in Lower Saxony, Germany, situated at the river Ems. The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. In 1973 Viking Line started service on the Turku—Mariehamn—Stockholm route, directly competing with Silja Line for the first time. Turku, in Swedish Åbo ( pronounced,) is a city and the original capital of Finland on the southwest coast of Finland at the ('stɔkhɔlm is Sweden 's Capital and its largest City. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the parliament, and the The next year Sally began Viking Line traffic between Helsinki and Stockholm. Helsinki (in Finnish;) or Helsingfors (in Swedish;) is the Capital and largest city of Finland. ^[13] For the next decade this route stayed in their hands, whereas on other routes the three companies operated together.

By the latter half of the 70's Sally was clearly the dominant partner in the consortium. In 1980 they took delivery of three new ferries (MS Viking Saga, MS Viking Sally and MS Viking Song), largest to have sailed under Viking's colours. History Viking Saga The ship was originally built in 1980 for Rederi Ab Sally, one of Viking Line partners as the Cruiseferry MS Construction The ship was originally ordered from Meyer Werft by a Norwegian shipping company led by Parley Augustsen with intended traffic between History Viking Line and Fred Olsen service Delivered in August 1980 M/S Viking Song was the last newbuilding delivered to Rederi Ab Sally for use on This further established their dominance over the other partners, although SF Line did take delivery of the new MS Turella and MS Rosella in 1979-1980 and Slite MS Diana II in 1979. Background New vessels for SF Line The market for transporting passengers cars and cargo trucks across the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden Background Tonnage war in the Baltic Rederi AB Slite had great success with their first generation of car and passenger ferries servicing between Sweden and Finland and ^[14] In the early 1980s Sally started expanding their operations to other waters, which became the company's failing as those operations were largely unprofitable and ultimately made Sally unable to invest on new tonnage for Viking Line service. ^[15]

1985-1993

M/S Mariella leaving Helsinki

In 1985 a new leaf was turned in Viking Line's history when SF Line's brand-new MS Mariella, at the time the largest ferry in the world, replaced MS Viking Song on Helsinki—Stockholm service, breaking Sally's monopoly on the route. History When the Mariella was delivered in 1985 she was the first ship on Viking Line's Helsinki — Stockholm service which was not owned History Viking Line and Fred Olsen service Delivered in August 1980 M/S Viking Song was the last newbuilding delivered to Rederi Ab Sally for use on The next year Slite took delivery of Mariella's sister MS Olympia and thus forced Sally out of Helsinki—Stockholm traffic completely. Brief history Olympia was built by the Wärtsilä Shipyard in Turku, Finland, for Rederi AB Slite. While SF Line and Slite were planning additional newbuilds, Sally were in an extremely poor position financially and in 1987 Effoa and Johnson Line, the owners of Silja Line, purchased Sally. Effoa was a Finnish shipping company founded in 1883 by Captain Lars Krogius as the Finland Steamship Company or Finska Ångfartygs Aktiebolag in Johnson Line (Swedish Johnsonlinjen was a Shipping line founded in 1904 as a subsidiary of Rederi AB Nordstjernan. Silja Line ( Tallink Silja Oy) is a Finnish ferry company owned by the Estonian Ferry operator Tallink. As a result SF Line and Slite forced Sally to leave the Viking Line consortium. ^[16]

Between 1988 and 1990 SF Line took delivery of three new ships (MS Amorella, MS Isabella and MS Cinderella) while Slite took delivery of two (MS Athena and MS Kalypso). History The Amorella was ordered in 1986 by SF Line, one of the partners in Viking Line consortium Consept and construction The Isabella was the second of two sister ships ordered by SF Line from Brodogradiliste Split in Split, Yugoslavia History The Cinderella was planned in the later half of the 1980s as the new flagship for SF Line History Viking Line service In the latter half of the 1980s owners of the rival shipping companies Viking Line and Silja Line competed heavily M/S Star Pisces is a Cruise ship, owned by Star Cruises and currently does short cruises from Hong Kong. ^[17] Unfortunately Wärtsilä Marine, the shipyard building one of SF Line's newbuilds and both of Slite's, went bankrupt in 1989. Wärtsilä is a Finnish manufacturer of large ( Diesel) engines and Power plants The core business of Wärtsilä is marine diesel engines SF Line avoided financial repercussions, their Cinderella had been continuously paid for as her construction progressed. Hence it was SF Line who owned the almost completed ship when the shipyard went bankrupt. ^[18] Slite however had signed a more traditional type of contract, the Kalypso was to be paid for on delivery. Since the shipyard owned the unfinished ship, this led to an increased cost for the Kalypso^[19] - about 200 million SEK more than had been originally envisaged. In the end, despite the financial problems, by 1990 Viking Line had the largest and newest cruiseferry fleet in the world.

In 1989 Slite started planning MS Europa, which was to be the jewel in the company's crown, the largest and most luxurious cruiseferry in the world. History January 23, 1993. The MS Europa is launched March 5, 1993. Unfortunately for them Sweden entered a financial crises during the construction of the ship, which led to devaluation of the Swedish krona. This in turn meant that the cost for the Europa increased by 400 million SEK. When time came to take delivery of the new ship, Slite did not have the funds to pay for it and their main funders (Swedish Nordbanken, who were also the main funders of Silja Line) refused to loan them the money needed. Nordea Bank AB is a Nordic financial services group operating in Northern Europe, based in Stockholm. Eventually the ship ended up in Silja Line's fleet and Slite was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1993. ^[20]

1993-present

Following the bankruptcy of Rederi AB Slite SF Line was left as the sole operator under the Viking Line brand. The remaining two Slite ships, Athena and Kalypso were auctioned in August 1993. ^[21][22] SF Line made a bid for the Kalypso, but both ships ended up sold to the newly-established Malaysian cruise ship operator Star Cruises. For the biogeographical region see Malesia Malaysia (məˈleɪʒə or /məˈleɪziə/ is a country that consists of thirteen states and A cruise ship or cruise liner is a Passenger ship used for pleasure voyages where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience Star Cruises is the third-largest Cruise line in the world behind Carnival Corporation and Royal Caribbean, and dominates the Asia-Pacific In 1995 SF Line changed their name into Viking Line.

Between 1994 and 1996 the company operated a fast ferry service from Helsinki to Tallinn during the summers on chartered catamaran ships. Tallinn (historically known by the German, Swedish and Danish name Reval or the Polish name Rewal, among other names A catamaran (From Tamil 'kattumaram' is a type of Multihulled Boat or Ship consisting of two hulls or vakas joined by some ^[23] In 1997 they purchased MS Silja Scandinavia from Sea-Link Shipping AB and renamed her MS Gabriella for Helsinki—Stockholm service. Concept and construction Euroway was a concept developed during the latter half of the 1980s by the Sweden -based Sea-Link Shipping. ^[24] It has been reported that around the same time plans were made to construct a pair of new ships for the Helsinki—Stockholm service so that Viking could better compete with Silja on that route, but the plans were shelved.

It took until 2005 for Viking to order a new ship, in response to growing competition from Tallink on the Helsinki—Tallinn route. In April 2008, the new MS Viking XPRS was delivered from Aker Finnyards, Helsinki and entered service between Helsinki and Tallinn. Concept Viking XPRS is Viking Line's first new building for the Helsinki&mdashTallinn route Aker Yards Oy, or Aker Yards' Finnish yards is a Finnish Shipbuilding company In January 2007 Viking Line announced that they had placed an order for another new ship, a ferry with a gross tonnage (GT) of 15. Gross tonnage (often abbreviated as GT, GT or gt) is a unitless index related to a ship's overall internal volume 000 tons at the Spanish shipyard Astilleros de Sevilla. Units of mass There are three similar units of Mass called the ton: Long ton (simply ton in countries such as the United The project name for the ship, that will replace the MS Rosella on the Mariehamn—Kapellskär route,^[25] is Viking ADCC and delivery is expected for March 2009. Background New vessels for SF Line The market for transporting passengers cars and cargo trucks across the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden Concept and construction The Viking ADCC was designed specifically for the needs of the short Mariehamn — Kapellskär service ^[26] .

Future

In addition to building the XPRS and ADCC, Viking Line's CEO Nils-Erik Eklund stated in an interview of the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat that the company were looking to replace the ships operating between Turku and Stockholm. Turun Sanomat is the leading regional Newspaper of the region of Finland Proper. The volume of freight transported on the route has been steadily growing during the past years and if the growth continues the current ships will be too small to meet demand in the future. ^[27] However, a large-scale refurbishment of public space and cabins is planned for all Viking ships on Turku—Stockholm and Helsinki—Stockholm routes (refurbishments of the public spaces have already been carried out on Mariella and Isabella). ^[28]

Fleet

Current fleet

Ship	Built	Entered service	Route	Tonnage	Flag	Notes
MS Amorella	1988	1988	Turku—Mariehamn/Långnäs—Stockholm	34,384 GRT	Finland
MS Gabriella	1992	1997	Helsinki—Mariehamn—Stockholm	35,492 GRT	Finland	ex-Frans Suell for Euroway, ex-Silja Scandinavia for Silja Line
MS Isabella	1989	1989	Turku—Mariehamn/Långnäs—Stockholm	35,154 GRT	Finland
MS Mariella	1985	1985	Helsinki—Mariehamn—Stockholm	37,860 GRT	Finland
MS Rosella	1980	1980	Mariehamn—Kapellskär	16,850 GT	Sweden
MS Viking Cinderella	1989	1989	Stockholm—Mariehamn (one-day cruises) Stockholm—Mariehamn—Riga (summers only)	46,398 GRT	Sweden	Previously Cinderella; renamed Viking Cinderella in 2003
MS Viking XPRS	2008	2008	Helsinki—Tallinn	34,000 GT	Sweden

Ships under construction

Ship	Planned service entry date	Shipyard	Planned route	Projected tonnage	Planned flag
Viking ADCC	summer 2009	Astilleros de Sevilla, Sevilla	Kapellskär—Mariehamn	15,000 GT	Sweden

Former ships

Additionally a large number of ferries were chartered during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s for seasonal traffic.

References

See also

• Tallink - rival operator
• Silja Line - rival operator (owned by Tallink)
• Viking

External links

• Viking Line - In Finland
• Viking Line - In Sweden