FINNJET Chronicle
This comprehensive
yet compact chronicle of FINNJET's life was written and constantly maintened
by Salomon Kaukiainen and the webmaster. If you find mistakes, know additions or whatever,
you may contact him per eMail!
For in-depth information on selected events you can click on "(more)".
From time to time we will try to write a description, add photos and other stuff
for many events.
>> Details about Finnjet's dockings
Last Update: 16.11.2008: Added the rest: OCT 2007 - NOV 2009
|
05.12.1973
|
Finnjet was ordered (more) |
|
20.05.1975
|
Keel
laid in Hietalahti shipyard (more)
|
|
24.03.1976
|
Small
fire in bow-thruster room
|
|
28.03.1976
|
Launching
without ceremonies
|
|
22.11.1976
|
Major
fire-drill onboard
|
|
09.12.1976
|
Finnjet
left for first test-drive 15:00, returned 12.12 03:00
|
|
01.03.1977
|
Left
Helsinki to Kiel for bottom painting, ship visited Travemünde on return
|
|
14.03.1977
|
Second
test-drive
|
|
28.04.1977
|
Finnjet's
delivery and christening ceremonies on Katajanokka with 1500 guests (more)
|
|
01.05.1977
|
The
maiden-voyage planned for 1.5 was delayed by two weeks because of a strike
of the engine officers
|
|
12.05.1977
|
Turbine
test-drive outside Helsinki
|
|
13.05.1977
|
Maiden-voyage from Helsinki to Travemünde
|
|
16.05.1977
|
Finnjet
collided with quay in Travemünde, bow port damaged
|
|
06.06.1977
|
Two
blind passengers found from a life-boat in Helsinki
|
|
29.07.1977
|
11
kg of drugs found from a foreign car in Helsinki
|
|
29.09.1977
|
Finnjet's
100.000. passenger
|
|
16.11.1977 |
Bow visor damaged, didn't open in harbour |
|
27.01.1978
|
An
ice-float separated by Finnjet blocked the shipway through Kustaanmiekka
|
|
15.03.1978
|
Miss-Europe-competiton
onboard
|
|
22.08.1978
|
Failure
in reduction gear, sailed with slower timetable during reparations
|
|
31.12.1978
|
Arrived
to Helsinki 20 hours late because of a snowstorm, new-year's cruise cancelled
|
|
09.02.1979
|
Finnjet
got stuck in ice for one night
|
|
16.02.1979
|
Finnjet
got 9 hours delayed on the way to Helsinki because of a storm
|
|
10.08.1979
|
Finnjet's
500.000. passenger stepped on board in Travemünde
|
|
08.02.1980
|
Ship
officer union delayed departure from Helsinki because of difficulties
in talks about work-times
|
|
?-31.05.1980 |
Docking in Kiel (more) |
|
16.06.1980
|
Three
new car-deck ramps installed, 24 new car places
|
|
03.10.1980
|
Enso-Gutzeit
made a contract of installing diesel-engines to Finnjet in Amsterdam
|
| Summer 1981 |
A
heavier fuel-mixture was taken in use
|
|
08.11.1980
|
Strike
of engine-officers stopped Finnjet to Helsinki, departed 15.11
|
|
30.08.1981
|
Delayed
several hours when coming to Helsinki because bow port got damaged in
storm
|
|
23.10.1981
|
Workers
demanded clarification of the selling rumours of Finnjet, strike threat
|
|
24.10.1981
|
Strike
was missed and Finnjet left for docking in Amsterdam (more)
|
|
18.11.1981
|
Enso
decided to continue Finnjet-traffic at least for one year
|
|
15.12.1981
|
Restart of the operations in Travemünde after conversion in Amsterdam
|
|
30.01.1982
|
Finnjet's
millionth passenger
|
|
10.03.1982
|
Crew
suggested reduce of personnell to save the ship in Finland
|
|
13.03.1982
|
Rumour
of the ship to be sold to a Saudi-Arabian sheikh to Red Sea
|
|
25.03.1982
|
Enso
confirmed the traffic to continue at least rest of the year
|
|
22.05.1982
|
Traffic
was decided to continue further
|
|
25.-29.05.1982 |
Service days in Helsinki |
|
01.07.1982
|
75% of Enso-Gutzeits Finnjet-shares were sold to EFFOA |
|
08.07.1982
|
Departure
from Helsinki got cancelled because of a gearing failure
|
|
13.08.1982
|
Rescued
a DDR-refugee from an air-maddress outside DDR coast
|
|
10.12.1982
|
OY
Finnjet Line Ltd. was established to take care of Finnjet's traffic
|
|
01.01.1983 |
Marketing and operating of Finnjet handed over to
Finnjet-Line |
|
15.01.1984
|
Shipyard's
Finnjet-model was stolen from Hietalahti shipyard
|
|
22.01.1985
|
Got
stuck to ice-barriers outside Harmaja with Pomerania
|
|
25.-31.03.1985 |
Docking in Kiel (more) |
|
22.11-17.12.1985 |
No Travemünde-traffic, 24h-cruises (more) |
|
12.01.1986
|
Docking in Helsinki (more)
|
|
08.02.1986
|
Ship
returned to traffic renovated and with new livery of Finnjet Line
|
|
20.-24.04.1986 |
Docking in Kiel (more) |
|
Spring
1986
|
DFDS
made an offer of buying Finnjet
|
|
03.06.1986
|
The remaing 25% of Finnjet shares were sold from Enso-Gutzeit to EFFOA, also Finnjet Line changed owner |
|
21.11.-16.12.1986 |
24h-cruises (more) |
|
16.12.1986
|
Bottom
contact on Kruunuvuori-back, propeller damage, captain accused later Suomenlinna-ferry
for the accident. Finnjet was docked in Kiel for reparation (more)
|
|
21.12.1986
|
Back
in traffic after reparation
|
|
01.01.1987
|
Responsibility
of Finnjet's traffic transferred to Silja Line, technical managers still
Finnlines
|
|
06.01.1987
|
Silja
Line's flag was raised to antenna mast of Finnjet
|
|
13.01.1987
|
Finnjet
had to turn back to Travemünde after heavy icing on Southern Baltic
|
|
23.03.1987
|
Ownership
changed to Oy Efjon Trading Ab
|
|
02.-12.04.1987
|
Docking in Kiel (more)
|
|
20.11.-14.12.1987 |
24h-cruises (more) |
|
09.-17.04.1988 |
Docking in Kiel (more) |
|
16.08.1988 (?) |
Fire in starboard diesel-engine room |
|
11.11.-13.12.1988 |
24h-cruises (more) |
|
21.03.1989 |
Gearing failure when arriving to Helsinki, some sources say Finnjet hit Mariella when docking |
|
16.-24.04.1989 |
Docking in Kiel (more) |
|
01.05.1989
|
Ship's
technical responsibility changed to Silja
|
|
10.11.-12.12.1989 |
24h-cruises (more) |
|
15.12.1989 |
New registered owner Partrederiet för GTS Finnjet |
|
19.12.1989
|
Port
of Helsinki's millionth passenger of the year arrived from Finnjet
|
|
19.-26.04.1990
|
Docking in Kiel (more)
|
|
04.08.1990
|
Finnjet
stopped late at night for few hours by Mariella which had a fire in engine-room
|
|
15.09.1990
|
Helsingin
Sanomat reported that Silja is plannnig to replace Finnjet with two 1000-passenger
ro-pax ferries
|
|
16.11.-16.12.1990 |
24h-cruises (more) |
|
11.-30.04.1991 |
Docking in Kiel (more) |
|
1991
|
Effjohn
planned total renovation and lengthening of Finnjet by 20 meters, funds
went instead to renovation of Wellamo and Svea (more)
|
|
08.11-09.12.1991 |
24h-cruises (more) |
|
27.12.1991 |
Registered owner Effdo 1 Oy |
|
Spring
1992
|
Institute
of Marine Research installed to Finnjet equipments to measure waterquality
in the Baltic
|
|
03-08.04.1992
|
Docking in Kiel (more)
|
|
18.07.1992
|
A
drug-packet was thrown overboard from Finnjet
|
|
31.10.-07.12.1992 |
24h-cruises (more) |
|
13.01.1993
|
Finnjet's
homeport changed to Mariehamn
|
|
April 1993 |
Docking in Kiel (more) |
|
03.08.1993
|
Gear-failure
en-route to Travemünde, ship continued with one turbine and was 3 hours
late, delays continued for 5 days
|
|
01.11.1993
|
New
Alandian registration number 50258
|
|
08.-30.04.1994 |
Docking in Kiel (more) |
|
27.04.1994 |
Remeasured according to the 1969 Convention |
|
28.09.1994 |
Finnjet participated to the rescue operation of sunken Estonia, but had to leave the area allready after four hours after cargo started to move in the heavy seas |
|
04.10.1994 |
Because of the Estonia-disaster Finnjet's bow-visor was closed like on other ships |
|
29.10-05.12.1994 |
24h-cruises (more) |
|
11.02.1995 |
20kg of drugs were found from a car arriving to Helsinki on Finnjet |
|
06.-13.04.1995 |
Docking in Kiel (more) |
|
6/1995 |
New car-ramps installed to ship during harbour times in Helsinki and bow visor opened again |
|
28.10-11.12.1995 |
22h-cruises (more). Between 30.11. and 11.12. no Travemünde traffic at all |
|
13.-20.04.1996 |
Docking in Helsinki (more) |
|
11.11.1996 |
Owner Sally Ab |
|
01.04.1997 |
Silja Line announced Finnjet to move into Tallinn-cruiseroute for winter season |
|
16.09.1997 |
Finnjet's year-round German-traffic ended after arrival to Helsinki at 9am, last passenger to leave the ship was politician Suvi Linden at 9.57 |
|
16.09.1997 |
Finnjet left in the evening to Göteborg's Cityvarvet for renovation |
|
18.09.-06.10.1997 |
Docking in Göteborg (more) |
|
09.10.1997
|
Finnjet
began Tallinn-cruises, ship left every evening at 19.00, spent night out
at sea and arrived to Muuga in the following morning, return-sailing was
direct in 3,5 hours
|
|
07.11.1997
|
Strike
of the restaurant-staff delayed departure from Helsinki by half-hour
|
|
23-26.12.1997
|
Finnjet
made Christmas-cruise to Riga
|
|
30.01.1998
|
Finnjet
couldn't enter Muuga because of hard storm, situation was known already
in Helsinki and ship left without cargo
|
|
12.04.1998
|
Finnjet
couldn't get to Muuga because of hard wind and ice packs
|
|
08.05.1998
|
Silja
Line announced Finnjet's German-traffic to be moved to Rostock in 1999
|
|
02.-04.06.1998 |
Service days in Helsinki, Panorama Bridge removed |
|
04.06.1998
|
Finnjet
returned to Travemünde traffic, Sunday's slow TRA-HEL sailings visited
Muuga on Tuesday-morning
|
|
15.09.1998
|
Germany-traffic
to end for winter
|
|
04.10.1998
|
Finnjet's
Tallinn-cruise was canceled because of a failure in the main electric-table
|
|
23-26.12.1998
|
Finnjet
made again a Christmas-cruise to Riga
|
|
01.01.1999
|
After
a ship-way reconstruction in Tallinn-harbour Finnjet was able to move
to Tallinn Old harbour, from now on also evening sailing was made 'direct'
and ship spend whole night in harbour
|
|
05.06.1999
|
Finnjet
began sailing on route Helsinki-Tallinn-Rostock, in new tiemtable all
sailing were fast and ship spent Monday-Tuesday-night in Helsinki
|
|
17.06.1999
|
All
French Coca-Cola cans had to be withdrawn from sale on Finnjet because
of poison-suspects
|
|
Autumn
1999
|
Institute
of Marine Research installed new equipment for measuring water quality
and algae
|
|
29.11.1999 |
Finnjet couldn't enter Tallinn harbour because of storm winds over 30m/s |
|
23-26.12.1999
|
Christmas-cruise
to Riga
|
|
17.04.2000
|
Silja's
SuperSeaCat Four began Tallinn-traffic using Finnjet's quay in Tallinn,
so Finnjet had to leave the harbour every morning for SeaCat's visit
|
|
04.05.2000
|
Part
of Finnjet's crew disembarked the ship in Tallinn as a strike for the
work-contract problems with the Estonian crew of SeaCat, Finnjet left
anyway in time to Helsinki
|
|
09.05.2000
|
Finnish
Seamen Union had a strike to support SeaCat crew's work-contract negotiations,
preventing the loading of Finnjet, Finnjet could anyway leave Helsinki
allready 21:11, two hours late
|
|
03.06-10.09.2000
|
Finnjet
again on Helsinki-Tallinn-Rostock-route
|
|
14.08.2000
|
Finnjet's departure from Tallinn was delayed by over one hour after SeaCat had a fire in engine room and returned to Finnjet's quay, part of the SeaCat's passengers were transferred to Finnjet |
|
23-26.12.2000
|
Again a Christmas-cruise to Riga |
|
06.03.2001
|
Silja announced plans to strech Finnjet's route to St. Petersburg in 2002, plans weren't anyway realised because among other reasons the tightness of St. Petersburg's harbour |
|
19.5.2001
|
Finnjet made a special 24-hours Tallinn-cruise with morning departure from Helsinki because of the Estonian marathon 'Majooks', a short day-cruise was made next day |
|
27.05-02.06.2001
|
Finnjet was docked in Vuosaari, MOB-boat was changed, cardeck's middleramps removed, new moomin-logo was painted, propeller blades changed and bottom painted with new paint, new max-speed 33,5 knots |
|
02.06.2001
|
Rostock-sailings began again |
|
11-15.9.2001
|
Finnjet made two cruises from Helsinki to Riga |
|
16.9.2001
|
Finnjet returned again to Tallinn-route, ship arrived every second night to Regina Baltica's quay |
|
01.11.2001
|
Finnjet arrived because of heavy wind to Helsinki a half hour late with assistance of a tug, arrived to Tallinn with a delay of 1,5 hours |
|
15.11.2001
|
Finnjet's arrival and so also departure from Helsinki delayed because Cindeella cracked with the quay in heavy storm, Finnjet couldn't enter Tallinn harbour in the following night as wind was over 30 m/s |
|
18.11.2001
|
Finnjet's mooring systems got damaged in storm and ship had to leave Tallinn harbour in the morning |
|
23-26.12.2001
|
Finnjet made again a Christmas-cruise to Riga, this time cruise was done on both ways via Tallinn to carry passengers stranded by SeaCat |
|
14.04.2002
|
Over 600 liters of strong alcohol was found in port of Tallinn from a truck on it's way to Finnjet |
|
13.05.2002
|
Finnjet's 25-years jubilee-cruise to Tallinn, on board over 100 special-guests |
|
15.05.2002
|
Helsingin Sanomat told that Finnjet was for sale, information appeared to be false |
|
01.06.2002
|
German-traffic continued on last year's schedule into a new tent-terminal in Rostock |
|
03.06.2002
|
29 Rumanians wanting a safe-place from Finland arrived to Helsinki on Finnjet |
|
07.07.2002
|
25-years old waitress disappeared from the ship soon after midnight on Estonian coast |
|
08/2002
|
Finnjet's 5000. Baltic Sea crossing |
|
10.09.2002
|
Return to Tallinn-route |
|
21.12.2002
|
Finnjet couldn't arrive to Tallinn harbour because of heavy wind, over 400 passengers got stranded |
|
23.-27.12.2002
|
Christmas cruise to Travemünde via Tallinn |
|
05.02.2003
|
Finnjet arrived to Helsinki one hour late because of ice |
|
07.03.2003
|
Silja reported considering to change Finnjet's Germany route year-round |
|
13.05.2003
|
Silja announced that Finnjet starts in 2004 on route Rostock-Tallinn-St. Petersburg |
|
29.-30.05.2003
|
Service days in Helsinki (more) |
|
31.05.2003
|
Rostock-traffic continued until 9.9. |
|
01.09.2003
|
Silja
started co-operation negotiations with Finnjet's crew
|
|
23.10.2003
|
Silja signed a letter of intent with Aker Finnyards about renovating of Finnjet |
|
10.12.2003
|
Renovation contract was made. Total costs 15 Million EUR, Interior architects Partner-Ship-Design from Hamburg |
|
23.12-26.12.2003 |
Christmas-cruise to Riga |
|
30.01.2004 |
During a lecture in Travemünde Silja Germany's CEO Rohrbach announces plans to flag out Finnjet to Italy |
|
16.04.2004 |
Finnish Seamen Union accepted contract of manning Finnjet under the Finnish flag with restrictions |
|
25.04.2004 |
Finnjet's last arrival to Helsinki, originally planned ceremonies on board cancelled |
|
26.04.2004 |
Left Helsinki last time 21.00 three hours late because of an engineer strike |
|
27.04.2004 |
Arrived to Rauma 12.00, continued to the drydock in the afternoon. Docking in Rauma (more) |
|
08.06.2004 |
One of the propeller setting motors got broken still in the shipyard, special experts from Helsinki had to join the ship on the way to Rostock the next day to fix the issue |
|
09.06.2004 |
Finnjet's out-docking was delayed because of a strike of the mooring crew, in the afternoon the ship left the shipyard and after a short stop in Rauma harbour at 18:50 also Finland for the last time. Destination was Rostock. |
|
12.06.2004 |
Arrival on time at 8 in the morning in Rostock |
|
16.06.2004 |
Press Conference and presentation of the "new" ship on board |
|
17.06.2004 |
Finnjet's inaugural departure on the new St.Petersburg route with 850 passengers including Silja Finland's and Germany's CEOs got delayed by 6 hours because of a failure in the steering automatics |
|
18.06.2004 |
Captain Slotte decided to cancel Tallinn-St.Petersburg, instead the ship was in Tallinn until 21.6. Silja showed great goodwill, all passengers got free food and drinks, free city trips in Tallinn and all St. Petersburg cruise passengers got another cruise for free. Arrival in Tallinn in the evening with 3 hours delay. |
|
19.06.2004 |
Finnyards engineers went onboard to fix the steering problems |
|
20.06.2004 |
Departure from Tallinn one hour late, arrival in Rostock in time the next day. |
|
23.06.2004 |
First Call in St. Petersburg, russian newspaper reported about a collision of Finnjet with an object under water on the delayed first cruise, information appeared to be false |
|
29.06.2004-05.07.2004 |
On a Port State Control inspection in Rostock 19 deficiencies were found on board, mostly about documentations and papers but also safety issues |
|
Summer 2004 |
Because of the detailed passenger and load lists to be sent to the port of St. Petersburg before the ship is allowed to depart, Finnjet was almost regularily delayed by one hour on the departures in Rostock. Arrivals in Tallinn were in time. Silja considered adjusting the timetable. |
|
25.08.2004 |
Silja announced new co-operation negotiations with Finnjet's crew because of low passenger numbers for the upcoming autumn leading to "changes in Finnjet's traffic". |
|
01.09.2004 |
In a press release Silja announced a time out in the Germany-Russia route starting on 17.9. 20.000 bookings had to be cancelled. |
|
17.09.2004 |
Last Finnjet Arrival with passengers in 2004. The ship was laid up in Rostock. The working contracts remain active, with a 7 months holiday for the complete service crew. Most of the 55 finnish crew members were transferred to other Silja Line ships. A small crew of 9 persons remained on board. During the first summer on the new route roughly 40.000 people travelled with Finnjet |
|
02.04.2005 |
Changed quay in Rostock from 51 to 31 for pre-docking servicing |
|
09.04.2005 |
Left Rostock for service inspection in Rauma |
|
11.-18.04.2005 |
Docking in Rauma (more) |
|
19.04.2005 |
Arrival at Tallinn's cruise quay |
|
Spring 2005 |
Finnjet appeared on a website of a project association as a exhibition ship "Europe Star" to make a tour around Europe in early 2006, the contract with Silja was never made and the project left unrealized |
|
26.04.2005 |
First departure to Rostock, scheduled Rostock-Tallinn-St.Petersburg sailings until 23.09. |
|
04.-08.05.2005 |
Finnjet in Riga as hotel ship during US President George Bush's visit |
|
June 2005 |
Finnjet appeared in a ship broker's list for 25m USD with availability autumn 2006 |
|
15.08.2005 |
Silja Germany announced satisfaction about 2005's expections, about 80.000 passengers will have travelled this summer and 23.05.2006 set as new traffic start date |
|
18.08.2005 |
Silja announced reductions in it's Baltic operations including probable sell of Finnjet |
|
02.09.2005 |
Turun Sanomat reported about a closure of Finnjet's traffic and a layup in Falmouth from 25th september on |
|
10.09.2005 |
Finnish media speculated about a use of Finnjet in the disaster area of hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, USA |
|
16.09.2005 |
Silja announced the end of Finnjet's route and a sale of the ship. Before, Finnjet was leased to Louisiana as a lodging ship. The last St.Petersburg roundtrip was cancelled |
|
16.09.2005 |
Blocked oil filter in the auxiliary engines cause a black-out at sea, Finnjet one hour late in Tallinn |
|
18.09.2005 |
Finnjet's last passenger sailing in Silja's colours from Tallinn to Rostock without any special events |
|
19.-20.09.2005 |
Service days in Rostock (more) |
|
20.09.2005 |
Departure from Rostock at 3 PM with about 30 crew members on board |
|
22.09.2005 |
SeaContainers plans to take aerial photos of Finnjet and Hoverspeed in one picture, passing times don't fit and only Finnjet was photographed in the English Channel |
|
24.09.2005 |
7 hours bunkering stop in Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal. During a Port State Control, 8 minor deficiencies were found |
|
30.09.2005 |
1,5 days stop for bunkering and hotel crew coming on board in Freeport, Bahamas |
|
05.10.2005 |
Arrival to Baton Rouge, completion of the fastest Finnish transatlantic crossing (24 knots average). For Mississippi river, the highest antennas had to be removed to fit under certain bridges |
|
10.10.2005 |
Start of lodging operations with a remaining crew of less than 100 persons. In average, 600-700 people lived on board |
|
03.11.2005 |
SeaContainers announces details of an extensive restructuring program including the sale of ships. In the case of Finnjet, the ship will be either sold if possible or chartered to long term charteres. SeaContainers thinks about "upgrading the ship's Diesel engines to allow a service speed of 24 knots" |
|
December 2005 |
Charter-extension by 2 months: Finnjet stays until June 2006 |
|
04.06.2006 |
All remaining students had to leave the ship again |
|
07.06.2006 |
Departure to Freeport, Bahamas |
|
09.06.2006 |
Arrival in Freeport, Bahamas for layup. The Silja logos were removed in the following days |
|
15.06.2006 |
FINNJET Bermuda Ltd. was founded by SeaContainers, ship owner changed |
|
20.07.2006 |
Flag change to Bahamas, new homeport Nassau |
|
July 2006 |
Rumours tell that the ship is sold to unknown buyers |
|
January 2007 |
According to different internet sources, Royal Zante Cruises wants to use the ship for caribbean cruise traffic |
|
13.-16.02.2007 |
Docking in Freeport (more) |
|
March 2007 |
To find out the exact max. speed of the Diesel engines, test drives were planned but then postponed |
|
Autumn 2007 |
A US-based investor is interested in buying Finnjet and converting it into a luxury casino ship including a 40 Million US$-refit and upgrade of all cabins. The company paid a 1,25 Million non refundable deposit for keeping the ship off the market for several weeks and sent several experts (including Finns) on board to measure dimensions and possibilities. Even detailed conversion drawings were made, but in the end the deal anyway did not succeed |
November 2007 |
Dutch-based Club Cruise (Cruise Ship Holdings number six) buys the ship from SeaContainers. Reported price is around 11 Million US$. The ship is reported to be converted into a cruise ship in the Genoa-based Mariotti yard. |
16.01.2008 |
FINNJET is renamed DA VINCI |
25.01.2008 |
DA VINCI leaves Freeport (Bahamas) after 1,5 years of layup |
07.-11.02.2008 |
Refueling stop in Gibraltar |
18.02.2008 |
DA VINCI arrives in Genoa, Italy for refurbishment |
March 2008 |
The economic situation of Club Cruise does obviously not allow any refurbishment anymore (cancellation of new build options and problems with charterers of other vessels for the english market) and therefore Club Cruise tries to resell the vessel. An official statement says, that "Club Cruise will not generate income with DA VINCI this year yet." Members of crew say the ship will be sold as Casino ship |
01.04.2008 |
DA VINCI is offered for charter as a hotel ship |
25.04.2008 |
A finnish-based company sends out an inspection team to review the status of the ship for a possible Baltic Sea ferry project. The inspection report shows only minor defects and underlines the perfect condition of the ship at this time. |
02.05.2008 |
Rumours say that DA VINCI was sold for scrap |
05.05.2008 |
Serious sources confirm that the ship will be sold to Jason International S.A, Monrovia for scrap in Alang, India |
08.05.2008 |
DA VINCI gets a oneway class certificate to sail to India |
10.05.2008 |
DA VINCI left Genoa for Port Said (Suez Canal) |
15.05.2008 |
HS (Helsingin Sanomat) reports that Finnjet might find buyers for mediterranean or red sea ferry traffic |
16.05.2008 |
DA VINCI arrives in Port Said. Unauthorized persons enter the ship at night and steal and damage some items on board. |
17.05.2008 |
DA VINCI passes the Suez Canal with the first southbound convoy between 1 AM and 4 PM. During the transit, DA VINCI encounters an engine failure and hits a buoy without damages. |
20.05.2009 |
DA VINCI arrives in Jeddah for bunkering and a DNV survey |
20.05.2008 |
Espoo City Council members propose the city to buy the ship |
23.05.2008 |
DA VINCI is sold to Jason International S.A., Monrovia, Liberia. Club Cruise (Cruise Ship Holdings Number Six) remains reponsible for the operation of the vessel. Hamburg-based FIS Hanse Schifffahrt GmbH & Co. KG are responsible for the ship's management. |
24.05.2008 |
DA VINCI is renamed KINGDOM, new flag Panama, homeport Panama, new callsign 3ERW6. |
25.05.2008 |
Two indian representatives (agent and breaker) join the ship. |
27.05.2008 |
DNV surveys of the ship's radio equipment and further short term classes issued in Jeddah |
29.05.2008 |
Bunkering in Jeddah |
31.05.2008 |
KINGDOM leaves Jeddah for Aden, Yemen |
03.06.2008 |
Arrival at Aden for refueling |
06.06.2008 |
Final bid of a finnish company |
07.06.2008 |
KINGDOM leaves Aden for Bhavnagar anchorage, India |
13.06.2008 |
KINGDOM arrives at Bhavnagar anchorage |
19.06.2008 |
KINGDOM leaves for Alang roads and is beached on full own power remaining (1 Diesel) around 4:30 PM at plot 109, Rishi Ship Breakers. Electrical power went fully out on 5:05 PM. 13 crew members and major part of crew's luggage was disembarked shortly before the operation, the rest had to leave about 15-20 minutes after the beaching by boat. Her final captain for the voyage from Genoa to Alang was Alexander Topalov. |
04.07.2008 |
HS reports that KINGDOM was supposed to be towed further on the beach for final dismantling, but the towing chains broke |
July/August 2008 |
Two different parties are publically trying to save the ship, though being beached. None of which succeed. |
21.08.2008 |
A team of three Finnish ex-crewmembers are sent out to India by an Alandian company to review the ship's state and to examine the possibilities to refloat the ship. The visit on board lasts only 3 hours. The resulting report misleadingly tells that refloating would be possible and overall condition would be still good. |
25.-26.08.2008 |
FINNJETweb sends out a team of 5 Finnjet fans to take the chance to visit the ship a final time, making us the last "passengers" to stay a night on board. Some items could be salvaged from the breaker. The results are documentated in a quick report, a detailed traveloge, a picture DVD and a video DVD. The stay on board lasted roughly 12 hours (5 PM - 5 AM). |
12.09.2008 |
KINGDOM is being broken up, after removal of interiors had begun several weeks before. |
02.10.2008 |
Finnish TV station YLE sends out a reporter to film the status of work in Alang, India. The results were shown on air in YLE's "A-Zoom" on 24.10.08 |
16.11.2008 |
German TV station NDR reports about the fate of the ship in "Ostseereport" |
12.12.2008 |
German TV station NDR reports about the FINNJETweb trip to Alang |
02.01.2009 |
HS reports that scrapping work is progressing and done by about 100 workers. The scrapping will take another 8 months accordingly. |
22.05.2009 |
HS reports that two thirds of the ships hull have been dismantled. Furthermore the slowness of the demolition work and the steepling nosedive of the price of scrap iron and steel have brought Rishi Ship breakers in serious trouble. According to HS, the company wows not to purchase another passenger vessel for demolition ever again |
July 2009 |
MidShipCentury reports that scrapping works have slowed down |
Autumn 2009 |
Expected finishing of final dismantling works |
16.11.2009 |
FINNJETweb announces the salvage of further Finnjet-related items from Alang |
... to be continued, extendended, developed further :-)
During the first 25 years Finnjet made 4.924 sailings and carried 5.080.775 passengers on the Finland/Estonia-Germany-route (Spring 2002)
FINNJETweb.com
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Kaukiainen, Mathias Saken 2001-2010