The MS ''Pascal Lota (ex Superstar)'' is a fast

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 ...

owned by the

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

-based

Corsica Ferries - Sardinia Ferries Corsica Ferries - Sardinia Ferries (Corsica Ferries France SAS – Forship SpA) is a Franco-Italian ferry company that operates traffic to and from the islands of Corsica, Sardinia and Elba. The ferry company was founded in 1967 by the Cor ...

. She was built in 2008 at the

Fincantieri Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...

shipyard in

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic S ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Concept and construction

The design of the ''Superstar'' is based on

Moby Lines Moby Lines (Moby Lines S.p.A.) is an Italian shipping company that operates ferries and cruiseferries between the Italian or French mainland and the islands of Elba, Sardinia and Corsica. The company was founded in 1959 under the name Navigazio ...

' MS Moby Aki. The original order included an option for a second ship of the same type, which Tallink decided not to exercise. The keel of the vessel was laid on January 18, 2007. On October 5, 2007, the ''Superstar'' was christened by the Estonian

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player

Kaia Kanepi Kaia Kanepi (; born 10 June 1985) is an Estonian professional tennis player. She achieved her career-high ranking of world No. 15 on 20 August 2012 and has won four singles titles on the WTA Tour. Described as a 'resident Grand Slam upset spec ...

. The ship was delivered on 8 April 2008 and left Ancona for 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 ...

a day later.

Service history

''Superstar'' entered service on Tallink's

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 ...

–

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 ' ...

route on 21 April 2008. On 30 April 2008 the ship suffered a hydraulics problem while leaving Tallinn, and one Tallinn–Helsinki roundtrip had to be cancelled. On 27 February 2009, while en route from Tallinn to Helsinki with 400 passengers on board, the ship's main engines stopped due to problems with the cooling systems at 8:45 am. The ship was adrift for nearly two hours, with emergency generators providing electricity, until full power could be restored at 10:30 am. ''Superstar'' arrived in Helsinki at 11:30, two hours behind schedule.

Design

The green external livery of the ship is according to Tallink promotion material "meant to reflect the environmentally friendly aspects of the ship's design". The onboard facilities include a three-deck high showlounge, four restaurants, cafeteria, two bars, a casino, a business lounge and various shops.

Sister ships

* Moby Aki *

Moby Wonder Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "among the ...

* MS Finlandia

References

External links

MS Superstar on Tallink website

MS Superstar at marinetraffic.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pascal Lota Ferries of Estonia Cruiseferries 2007 ships Ships built by Fincantieri Ships built in Ancona