Eckerö Line
Encyclopedia
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
shipping companies owned by the Åland-based Rederiaktiebolaget Eckerö. Eckerö Line operates two ferries (one for passenger traffic, one for cargo) between Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
(Finland) and Tallinn
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
(Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
). In addition to this Rederiaktiebolaget Eckerö also owns Eckerö Linjen
Eckerö Linjen
Eckerö Linjen is a Finnish shipping company operating a ferry between Eckerö in the Åland Islands and Grisslehamn in Sweden. The company is owned by the Åland based Rederiaktiebolaget Eckerö...
, Ålandsresor, Williams Buss, Algot Shipyard as well as 100 % of Birka Line
Birka Line
Birka Line is an Ålandian shipping company that operates a cruise ship on the Baltic Sea with Stockholm as the starting point under the name Birka Cruises. Birka Line has a cargo-shipping subsidiary, Birka Cargo. During the 1970s the company was often marketed as Ålandslinjen...
.http://www.hs.fi/talous/artikkeli/Ecker%C3%B6+sai+enemmist%C3%B6n+Birka+Linesta/1135227477884
History
In 1992 Rederiaktiebolaget Eckerö and Birka LineBirka Line
Birka Line is an Ålandian shipping company that operates a cruise ship on the Baltic Sea with Stockholm as the starting point under the name Birka Cruises. Birka Line has a cargo-shipping subsidiary, Birka Cargo. During the 1970s the company was often marketed as Ålandslinjen...
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
Eckerö Linjen
Eckerö Linjen is a Finnish shipping company operating a ferry between Eckerö in the Åland Islands and Grisslehamn in Sweden. The company is owned by the Åland based Rederiaktiebolaget Eckerö...
. However, due to the use of the word Eesti (Estonian
Estonian language
Estonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...
for "Estonia") instead of the Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
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
Estline
Estline was a Swedish-Estonian shipping company, owned jointly by Nordström & Thulin and the Estonian Government via Estonian Shipping Company . Estline was founded in 1990 and had a 10 year exclusive right to the passenger traffic between Stockholm, Sweden and Tallinn, Estonia...
, 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
Cruiseferry
A cruiseferry is a ship that combines the features of a cruise ship with a Ro-Pax ferry. Many passengers travel with the ships for the cruise experience, staying only a few hours at the destination port or not leaving the ship at all, while others use the ships as means of...
, MS Nordlandia
MS Nordlandia
MS Nordlandia is a cruiseferry owned by the Finnish shipping company Eckerö Line on their route connecting Helsinki, Finland, to Tallinn, Estonia. She was built in 1981 by AG Weser Seebeckswerft, Bremerhaven, West Germany for Olau Line as MS Olau Hollandia...
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
Typeface
In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
used in the ship's hull was changed from a heavy serif
Serif
In typography, serifs are semi-structural details on the ends of some of the strokes that make up letters and symbols. A typeface with serifs is called a serif typeface . A typeface without serifs is called sans serif or sans-serif, from the French sans, meaning “without”...
into a light, italicized sans-serif
Sans-serif
In typography, a sans-serif, sans serif or san serif typeface is one that does not have the small projecting features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. The term comes from the French word sans, meaning "without"....
. In May 2004 Eckerö Line purchased the freight/passenger ferry MS Translandia
MS Translandia
MS Translandia is a freight/passenger ferry owned by the Finnish shipping company Eckerö Line on their route connecting Helsinki, Finland, to Tallinn, Estonia. She was built in 1976 by J. J...
as a second ship for the Helsinki — Tallinn route in response to the high demand for freight capacity after Estonia joined the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
.
Fleet
- MS NordlandiaMS NordlandiaMS Nordlandia is a cruiseferry owned by the Finnish shipping company Eckerö Line on their route connecting Helsinki, Finland, to Tallinn, Estonia. She was built in 1981 by AG Weser Seebeckswerft, Bremerhaven, West Germany for Olau Line as MS Olau Hollandia...
, HelsinkiHelsinkiHelsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
— TallinnTallinnTallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list... - MS TranslandiaMS TranslandiaMS Translandia is a freight/passenger ferry owned by the Finnish shipping company Eckerö Line on their route connecting Helsinki, Finland, to Tallinn, Estonia. She was built in 1976 by J. J...
, Helsinki — Tallinn
See also
- EckeröEckeröEckerö is a municipality of Åland, an autonomous territory under Finnish sovereignty. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of ofwhich is water. The population density is....
- Viking LineViking LineViking Line is a Finnish shipping company that operates a fleet of ferries and cruiseferries between Finland, the Åland Islands, Sweden and Estonia. Viking Line shares are quoted on the Helsinki Stock Exchange...
(rival operator) - TallinkTallinkTallink 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 and a part of SeaRail...
(rival operator) - Transport on the Åland IslandsTransport on the Åland IslandsÅland is an archipelago of over 6,000 islands in the Baltic Sea. Constitutionally, it is a Swedish-speaking autonomous province of Finland. Sea travel is a vital part of Åland's economy and a major local employer...
- St. Peter Line (new operator from Russia)