''Hildasay'' is a 7,606 GT

roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

which was built by Astilleros de Huelva, Spain in 1999 as ''Leili'' for the Estonian Shipping Company. During a charter to

Crowley Maritime Crowley, legally Crowley Maritime Corporation, is based in Jacksonville, Florida. Founded in 1892, Crowley is primarily a family- and employee-owned vessel management, owner, and supply chain logistics services company, providing services globall ...

she was renamed ''Port Everglades Express'', reverting to ''Leili'' when the charter ended. In 2005, she was sold to Greece and renamed ''RR Shield''. In 2008, she 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 ...

and renamed ''Shield''. In January 2010 she was chartered to NorthLink Ferries and renamed ''Hildasay''.

Description

''Hildasay'' is a

, she is long, with a beam of and a draught of . She has a total of lane capacity, which means she can carry 88 trailers, with provision for 12 passengers. 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 engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

s, which produce a total of , giving her a speed of .

History

''Varbola'' was built by Astilleros de Huelva, Huelva, Spain as yard number 572. She was built for the Estonian Shipping Company,

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 ' ...

. Originally under the

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

n flag, she was reflagged to

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

in 2000. On 2 May 2002, she was chartered to

, Jacksonville,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. ''Varbola'' was renamed ''Port Everglades Express'' for the duration of the charter. In October 2004, she reverted to ''Leili''. In October 2004, she was chartered to

Norse Merchant Ferries Norse Merchant Ferries was an Irish Sea ferry company that operating passenger and freight RORO services between England the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. History Norse Merchant Ferries was created in October 1999 when Cenargo, ...

for use on the

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

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. From 5–27 January 2005, ''Leili'' was chartered to Irish Ferries for use on the Pembroke - Rosslare routes. Following this, ''Leili'' was chartered to Norse Merchant Ferries for use on the Birkenhead - Dublin route, transferring to 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 ...

- Dublin route in June 2005. In July 2005, ''Varbola'' was sold to Elmira Shipping & Trading,

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 ...

and renamed ''RR Shield''. She was reflagged to

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. Norse Merchant Ferries was taken over by

Norfolk Line Norfolkline was a European ferry operator and logistics company owned by Maersk. It provided freight ferry services on the English channel, Irish Sea, and the North Sea; and passenger ferry services on the English channel and Irish Sea; and lo ...

in 2006. In August 2006 she was sent to

Gdańsk Shipyard The Gdańsk Shipyard ( pl, Stocznia Gdańska, formerly Lenin Shipyard) is a large Polish shipyard, located in the city of Gdańsk. The yard gained international fame when Solidarity () was founded there in September 1980. It is situated on the w ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

for a refit. In September 2007 she was sold to Attica Enterprise,

, and was renamed ''Shield'' in October 2007. On 1 October 2008 she was sold to

, remaining on charter to Norfolkline. In December 2009, she was chartered to NorthLink Ferries as a replacement for their freighter ''Hascosay''. She was named ''Hildasay'' in a ceremony in

Lerwick Lerwick (; non, Leirvik; nrn, Larvik) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010. Centred off the north coast of the Scottish mainland ...

on 10 February 2010. In 2012 she was reflagged 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 2019 the ship 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

Sister vessels

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

References

External links

Current position of ''Hildasay''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hildasay Ships of Seatruck Ferries 1999 ships Ships built in Spain Merchant ships of Estonia Merchant ships of the Isle of Man NorthLink Ferries