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Tallink Grupp and Meyer Turku have signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) for the construction of an LNG-fuelled car-passenger ferry, for the Tallinn-Helsinki route.
The ship will cost approximately €230 million and will be built at Turku shipyard, for delivery in the beginning of 2017. The project will provide approximately 2000 man-years employment for the shipyard.
The new ferry will measure approximately 212 m in length, with a gross tonnage of 49 000 t. The ship will operate on the route between Helsinki and Tallinn and will carry 2800 passengers. The ship will be fuelled with LNG, and she will comply with the new stricter emission regulations for emission control areas (ECA), including the Baltic Sea.
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Tallink Grupp board member, Janek Stalmeister, said that with the new ferry Tallink aims to upgrade the Tallinn-Helsinki route ferry service. Stalmeister commented: “As the market leader and a long time operator on the route we have a good understanding of customer expectations and know what needs improvement. I am confident that the world-class experience of Meyer Turku will be once again a valuable asset for us to deliver a high quality new ferry, which will strengthen our competitive advantages."
Jan Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku, added: "A series of six ferries between 2002-2009 has been delivered to Tallink and this ship will be the 7th newbuilding for the same shipowner. I’m very happy that Meyer Turku will continue the excellent and trusting cooperation with Tallink. This new ferry prototype gives us an excellent opportunity to apply improved design and building methods. For all these reasons this Letter of Intent signed today is very important to Meyer Turku and to the entire Finnish shipbuilding cluster."
