''Helliar'' is a ferry owned by Caledonian Maritime Assets and operated by NorthLink Ferries. Built by Astilleros de Huelva in Spain in 1997 as ''Lehola'' for the Estonian Shipping Company she has served a number of owners and operators as ''RR Triumph'' and ''Triumph'' before her sale to Clipper Group and being renamed ''Clipper Racer''. In 2011, she was chartered to NorthLink Ferries and renamed ''Helliar''.

History

''Lehola'' was built by Astilleros de Huelva, Huelva Spain as yard number 569. She was ordered on 30 September 1994 and her keel was laid on 20 October 1995. ''Lehola'' was launched on 13 November 1996 and completed on 15 October 1997. She was originally registered with Nippon Kaiji Kyokai, being transferred to

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 ...

on 27 November 2007.

Owners

From 1997 to 2005, ''Lehola'' was owned by the Estonian Shipping Company. In 2005, she was sold to Elmira Shipping & Trading and renamed ''RR Triumph''. In 2007, she was sold to the

Clipper Group Clipper Group is an international shipping company, founded in 1991 by Torben Gülnar Jensen, after a split of Armada Shipping A/S, which was founded in 1972 together with Jørgen Dannesboe. Primary focus is on bulk, especially within the handys ...

and renamed ''Triumph'', being renamed ''Clipper Racer'' in 2008. In 2011, she was chartered to NorthLink Ferries and renamed ''Helliar'' at a ceremony in Kirkwall,

Orkney Islands Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

. In 2019 it was purchased by Caledonian Maritime Assets.Northern Isles ferries bought by Scottish government
''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

'' 26 March 2019

Service history

In late 1997, ''Lehola'' entered service with the Estonian Shipping Company on the

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 ...

–

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

–

Arhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denma ...

route. In August 1998 she was chartered to Czar Peter Line and put into service on the

Moerdijk Moerdijk () is a municipality and a town in the South of the Netherlands, in the province of North Brabant. History The municipality of Moerdijk was founded in 1997 following the merger of the municipalities of Fijnaart en Heijningen, Klundert ...

– Kronstadt route. In February 1999 she was chartered to Delom and put into service on the

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

–

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

–

Sète Sète (; oc, Seta, ), also historically spelt ''Cette'' (official until 1928) and ''Sette'', is a commune in the Hérault department, in the region of Occitania, southern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Sétois'' (male) and ''Sétoises' ...

route. In October 2000, she was returned to Estonia Shipping Company and put into service on the

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

– Tallinn route until 31 December 2004. In January 2005, she was chartered to

P&O Ferries P&O Ferries is a British shipping company that operates ferry, ferries from United Kingdom to Ireland, and to Continental Europe (France, Belgium and the Netherlands). The company was created in 2002 through mergers and acquisitions within P&O ...

and entered service on the

Zeebrugge Zeebrugge (, from: ''Brugge aan zee'' meaning "Bruges at Sea", french: Zeebruges) is a village on the coast of Belgium and a subdivision of Bruges, for which it is the modern port. Zeebrugge serves as both the international port of Bruges-Zeeb ...

–

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

and

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

– Hull routes. On 11 July 2005, ''Lehola'' was sold to Elmira Shipping,

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic ...

, Greece. She was renamed ''RR Triumph'' and reflagged to Malta, her homeport changing from Tallinn to Valletta. She was then chartered to

and then P&O Irish Sea. In July 2005 she was put into service on the

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

–

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

route. Her charter to P&O Irish Sea ended on 11 February 2007 and she was chartered to

Baleària Baleària is the trading name for the Spanish shipping company Baleària Eurolíneas Marítimas S.A. The company operates passenger ferry services in the Mediterranean and Caribbean. Routes In the Mediterranean region, Baleària operates dom ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

later that month. On 30 October 2007, ''RR Triumph'' was sold to

Seatruck Ferries Seatruck Ferries is a UK-based freight-only ferry company which commenced services in 1996. It is a subsidiary of CLdN. It operates out of four ports on the Irish Sea, including Heysham and Liverpool. History Seatruck was established in 1996 ...

, remaining under the Maltese flag. In December 2007 she was renamed ''Triumph''. From 1 February to 23 March 2008 she was chartered to Condor Ferries and put into service between

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

and the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

. In April 2008 she was chartered to the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company and put into service on the

Heysham Heysham ( ) is a coastal town in Lancashire, England, overlooking Morecambe Bay. It is a Heysham Port, ferry port, with services to the Isle of Man and Ireland, and the site of two Heysham nuclear power station, nuclear power stations. Demogra ...

–

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...

route. On 5 June 2008 she was put into service on Seatruck's Liverpool – Dublin route. on 12 July 2008, she was renamed ''Clipper Racer''. In April 2009 she was chartered to

. In May 2010, she was chartered to Italian ferry operator

SNAV SNAV (Società Navigazione Alta Velocità) is an Italian company that operates ferry services from Italy to Sardinia, Croatia and Sicily. Routes SNAV operates a large network of routes across the Mediterranean and Adriatic. *Naples - Palerm ...

and put into service on the

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

route. On 5 October, a contract was signed for the chartering of ''Clipper Racer'' to NorthLink Ferries. On 5 January 2011, she was renamed ''Helliar''. In 2012 she was again reflagged - this time to the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

. In April 2012 ''Helliar'' was again chartered to the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company to cover the refit of before returning to NorthLink the following month.

Description

''MV Helliar'' is long. She has a beam of and a draught of . She is powered by two

Wärtsilä Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the marine and energy markets. The core products of Wärtsilä include technol ...

9R32 diesel engines which propel her at . The engines develop each. She has a GT of 7,606, NT of 2,282 and DWT of 5,758. On board there are 1,055 lane metres of trailer space, giving capacity to carry up to 63 trailers.

Sister vessels

*, built as ''Varbola''. *, built as ''Lembitu''. *, built as ''Leili''.

References

External links

Current position of ''Helliar''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Helliar Ships of Seatruck Ferries Merchant ships of the Isle of Man 1996 ships Ships built in Spain Transport in Shetland NorthLink Ferries