MS ''Birka Stockholm'' is a

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "s ...

built for

Birka Line Birka Cruises (formerly Birka Line) was an Ålandian shipping company that operated 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 ...

, now owned by Rederi Ab Eckerö and operated under their Birka Cruises brand. She was built in 2004 by

Aker Finnyards STX Finland Oy, formerly Aker Yards Oy, was a Finnish shipbuilding company operating three shipyards in Finland, in Turku, Helsinki and Rauma, employing some 2,500 people. It was part of STX Europe, a group of international shipbuilding companie ...

Rauma, Finland Rauma (; sv, Raumo) is a town and municipality of around () inhabitants on the west coast of Finland, north of Turku, and south of Pori. Its neighbouring municipalities are Eura, Eurajoki, Laitila and Pyhäranta. Granted town privileges on 17 ...

, and sailed as ''Birka Paradise'' until 2013.

Concept and construction

''Birka Paradise'' was ordered by

from

, on 20 November 2002. She was the first new ship ordered by Birka Line since ''Birka Queen'', ordered in the late 1980s, but never delivered due to bankruptcy of the

Wärtsilä Marine Wärtsilä Marine ( fi, Wärtsilä Meriteollisuus; sv, Wärtsilä Marinindustri) was a Finnish shipbuilding company. The company was created in 1987 in order to improve shipbuilding productivity by combining the Wärtsilä and Valmet yards unde ...

shipyard. The interior and exterior of ''Birka Paradise'' were jointly designed by Birka Line, Aker Finnyards and Deltamarin. Unlike most of Birka's previous vessels, the ship was designed from the beginning as a genuine cruise ship, without a car-deck. Following a naming competition that drew 3500 proposals, the ship was named ''Birka Paradise'' to reflect its design, reminiscent of a

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

cruise ship. The ship was designed with various environmentally friendly innovations; in addition to exhaust and closed sewage treatment systems already used on the company's ''Birka Princess'', ''Birka Paradise'' was built to fulfill

Det Norske Veritas DNV (formerly DNV GL) is an international accredited registrar and classification society headquartered in Høvik, Norway. The company currently has about 12,000 employees and 350 offices operating in more than 100 countries, and provides ser ...

' Clean Design rule relating to environmentally friendly structural solutions. Her hull form was optimised for smallest possible impact on the sensitive archipelago routes on which she sails. The keel of ''Birka Paradise'' was laid on 19 October 2003 and she was launched on 15 April 2004. Following her

sea trial A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a " shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and ...

s on 19 August and 14 October, the ship was delivered to Birka Line on 8 November 2004. The ship then sailed via her port of registry

Mariehamn Mariehamn ( , ; fi, Maarianhamina ; la, Portus Mariae) is the capital city, capital of Åland, an autonomous territory under Finland, Finnish sovereignty. Mariehamn is the seat of the Government of Åland, Government and Parliament of Åland, ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, where she was officially named on 10 November 2004 by

Arja Saijonmaa Arja Enni Helena Saijonmaa (born 1 December 1944 in Mikkeli) is a Finnish singer, political activist and occasional actress. Life and career She studied at the Sibelius Academy and earned a Bachelor of Arts at the Helsinki University. She made ...

Service history

''Birka Paradise'' entered service on 11 November 2004 on a 22-hour cruise from Stockholm to Mariehamn, which has been her main route in Birka service. During Christmas 2004 she made a longer cruise from Stockholm, calling at

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

and Mariehamn. From 2006 onwards she has made various longer cruises from Stockholm around the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

during the

northern hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...

summer season. In January 2009 Rederi Ab Eckerö, owner of Birka Cruises since 2007, made public their plans to re-register ''Birka Paradise'' to Sweden "as soon as possible" in order to allow the sale of

snuff Snuff may refer to: Tobacco * Snuff (tobacco), fine-ground tobacco, sniffed into the nose ** Moist snuff or dipping tobacco ** Creamy snuff, an Indian tobacco paste Media and entertainment * Snuff film, a type of film that shows a murder Literat ...

on board. According to European Union (EU) legislation snuff may not be sold within the EU except in Sweden and on board ships registered in Sweden. Until November 2007 the province of

Åland Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1 ...

in Finland allowed the sale of snuff on board ships registered in the province, but was forced to discontinue the practice when threatened by legal action by the EU. The outlawing of snuff sales caused the loss of approximately 1 million

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

per year for Birka Cruises, finally resulting in the decision to re-flag ''Birka Paradise''. The reflagging took place on 3 June 2009. Registered ownership of ''Birka Stockholm'' was transferred to Rederi Ab Eckerö in 2011. In January 2013 the ship was renamed ''Birka Stockholm'' and given new livery. The stripes on the hull were changed from blue, yellow and red to just blue and yellow, and the new "Birka Cruises" logo was placed on the funnel. According to the CEO, the company wanted to make a "change of profile" to a more Northern European theme. However, the company refers to the ship only as ''Birka'', dropping "Stockholm" which is part of the official name, as well as being the port of registry. Due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic Rederi Ab Eckerö, seized operations and the ship was put up for sale.

References

External links

Birka Cruises website in Swedish

Rederi Ab Eckerö

''Birka Stockholm'' at marinetraffic.com

MS ''Birka'' Video Clips
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birka Stockholm Cruise ships Ships built in Rauma, Finland 2004 ships