MS ''Moby Dada'' is a cruiseferry operated by
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 ...
, under charter from
DFDS Seaways
DFDS Seaways is a Danish shipping company that operates passenger and freight services across northern Europe. Following the acquisition of Norfolkline in 2010, DFDS restructured its other shipping divisions ( DFDS Tor Line and DFDS Lisco) ...
. She was built in 1981 as ''Finlandia'' for
Effoa at
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 technolo ...
's
Perno shipyard
Perno shipyard is a shipyard in Turku, southwest Finland, that specialises in building cruise ships, passenger ferries, special vessels and offshore projects. The yard area is . The yard is operated by Meyer Turku Oy. The dry dock is long, wi ...
in
Turku
Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...
, Finland, and placed in service on
Silja Line
Silja Line is a Swedish-Finnish cruiseferry brand operated by the Estonian ferry company AS Tallink Grupp, for car, cargo and passenger traffic between Finland and Sweden.
The former company Silja Oy—today Tallink Silja Oy—is a subsidiary ...
's Helsinki—
Stockholm service. In 1990 she was sold to DFDS Seaways and renamed ''Queen of Scandinavia''. From 2010 until 2016, she operated under the name of ''Princess Maria'' for
St. Peter Line between Helsinki and
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, Russia.
In 2016, following the purchase of St. Peter Line by Moby Lines, ''Princess Maria'' was renamed ''Moby Dada'' and was transferred to the Italian registry in November 2016, before being transferred to Moby Lines' operations on the Mediterranean Sea.
Service history
1981–1990: ''Finlandia''
![Finlandia Helsinki 1981-1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Finlandia_Helsinki_1981-1.jpg)
Originally to be named ''Skandia'',
''Finlandia'' was the first large, modern cruiseferry to be built for Silja Line. At the time she was also the world's largest cruiseferry in terms of passenger capacity, beds and volume. Alongside her sister (and
Viking Line
Viking Line Abp is a Finnish shipping company that operates a fleet of ferries and cruiseferries between Finland, the Åland Islands, Sweden and Estonia. Viking Line shares are quoted on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. Viking Line is operate ...
's contemporary
''Viking Saga'' and
''Viking Song'') she was instrumental in changing the Helsinki-Stockholm route from a transportation service into a
cruise route.
''Finlandia'' and ''Silvia Regina'' were originally constructed with very 'fat', curving bows to maximise car-carrying capacity, but these made the ship extremely difficult to handle especially during the winter. As a result, the ''Finlandia'' was docked in January 1982 (after just eight months of service) in Wärtsilä's Perno shipyard for reconstruction of her bow to a sleeker form. Following the bow reconstruction, additional rebuilding was done at Wärtsilä's Turku shipyard, where additional cabins were built and repairs were carried out on the restaurants.
During her career for Silja Line the ''Finlandia'' enjoyed a special relationship with
Mauno Koivisto
Mauno Henrik Koivisto (; 25 November 1923 – 12 May 2017) was a Finnish politician who served as the ninth president of Finland from 1982 to 1994. He also served as the country's prime minister twice, from 1968 to 1970 and again from 1979 to 1 ...
, who was at the time the Prime Minister and later President of Finland. ''Finlandia'' was named by Koivisto's wife
Tellervo Koivisto in 1981 and the pair travelled on ''Finlandia'' twice while Koivisto was President, first in 1984 on Wärtsilä's 150th-anniversary and again in 1985 when the pair made an official visit to Sweden.
In 1985, ''Finlandia''s interiors were heavily rebuilt at Wärtsilä's
Helsinki shipyard.
In September 1988, ''Finlandia'' was sold to
Suomen Yritysrahoitus in order to raise funds for new ships for the Helsinki–Stockholm route. Suomen Yritysrahoitus then chartered the ship back to Effoa for years. In December 1989, Suomen Yritysrahoitus sold ''Finlandia'' to
DFDS
DFDS is a Danish international shipping and logistics company. It is the busiest shipping company of its kind in Northern Europe and one of the busiest in Europe. The company's name is an abbreviation of Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab (literall ...
for delivery in May 1990, which was the planned delivery date for ''Finlandia''s replacement .
However, due to the bankruptcy of Wärtsilä's shipbuilding division the ''Silja Serenade'' was delayed by several months.
DFDS took delivery of the ''Finlandia'' as agreed in May 1990 and
EffJohn (merger of Effoa and
Johnson Line born in early 1990) was forced to look for a solution for its ship shortage elsewhere.
1990–2010: ''Queen of Scandinavia''
![Queen of Scandinavia at Newcastle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Queen_of_Scandinavia_at_Newcastle.jpg)
On 6 May 1990, ''Finlandia'' made her last call at Stockholm and left for docking at
Cityvarvet,
Gothenburg in preparation for her new service.
Five days later she received her new name, ''Queen of Scandinavia''. In June 1990 she began service on DFDS's
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 ...
—
Helsingborg
Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cent ...
—
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...
route, initially as the pair of , originally MS ''Wellamo'' of Effoa, the ship that ''Finlandia'' had replaced on the Helsinki—Stockholm service.
In January–April 2000, ''Queen of Scandinavia'' was rebuilt by
Remontowa
Remontowa (full name: Gdańska Stocznia "Remontowa" im. J. Piłsudskiego S.A.) is a company and shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland. The yard specialises in ship repair and conversions. ''Remontowa S.''A. is one of 26 companies that make up the Remonto ...
in
Gdynia
Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in th ...
, Poland, with rear
sponson
Sponsons are projections extending from the sides of land vehicles, aircraft or watercraft to provide protection, stability, storage locations, mounting points for weapons or other devices, or equipment housing.
Watercraft
On watercraft, a spon ...
s and, again, a new sleeker bow. The new bow is especially notable due to the fact that it has no gate or visor, hence the ship's
car deck
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 ...
s can now only be loaded/unloaded from the rear.
Also, a new marine evacuation system was added on deck 9. All the other life rafts were removed, and the new evacuation system features a chute instead.
In June 2001, ''Queen of Scandinavia'' was replaced on the Copenhagen—Oslo service by , and she was moved to the
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
—
IJmuiden route.
In September 2002, while sailing to IJmuiden, a woman fell overboard from one of the upper decks in the early hours of the morning. A lifeboat was quickly launched from the ship, while
Yarmouth coastguard and other ships assisted in the search. After 7 hours of searching ''Queen of Scandinavia'' continued to IJmuiden and left the coastguard to continue the search, without success. The woman had very little chance of survival due to the height of the fall and the low temperature of the water.
In May 2007, ''Queen of Scandinavia'' swapped routes with
''Princess of Norway'', taking over the Newcastle—Stavanger—Haugesund—Bergen route.
This allowed DFDS to operate two sister ships, ''Princess of Norway'' and the third
''King of Scandinavia'' on the Newcastle—IJmuiden run. On 26 November 2007 while in the port of Bergen, the ''Queen of Scandinavia'' broke her forward moorings and collided with the expedition ship
''H.U. Sverdrup II''. The ''H.U. Sverdrup II'' was severely damaged, while the ''Queen of Scandinavia'' received only cosmetic damage and was able to depart for Newcastle in accordance with her normal timetable.
DFDS Seaways closed down the loss-making United Kingdom—Norway service with the ''Queen of Scandinavia'' making her final sailing on 1 September 2008. Following this ''Queen of Scandinavia'' sailed to
Korsør
Korsør is a town on Zealand, Denmark. It is located in Slagelse Municipality. Until 2007 Korsør was the seat of Korsør Municipality. The town is located west of Slagelse, north-west of Skælskør and connects to Nyborg through the Great Bel ...
where she would stay until being either chartered or sold.
In February 2009, ''Queen of Scandinavia'' was chartered to
Alstom and moved to the
harbour of
Oskarshamn
Oskarshamn is a coastal city and the seat of Oskarshamn Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 17,258 inhabitants in 2010.
History
Etymology
Döderhultsvik was the original name before a town charter was granted in 1856. The name was then chang ...
in Sweden for use as living quarters for some 800 workers involved in the upgrading reactor 3 of the
Oskarshamn Nuclear Power Plant
The Nuclear power station Oskarshamn is one of three active nuclear power stations in Sweden. The plant is about north of Oskarshamn, directly at the Kalmarsund at the Baltic Sea coast and with one active reactor, producing about 10% of the el ...
.
While at Oskarshamn on 16 April 2009 a fire started in the ship's engine room at around 11 PM
CEST CEST or cest may refer to:
* Central European Summer Time (UTC+2), daylight saving time observed in the central European time zone
* Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory
* Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer, a subset of Magnetization transfer in ...
. According to preliminary reports, all 238 people on board were safely evacuated, and the fire was put out by 0:30 AM. Precise reasons for the fire are unknown as of 17 April 2009. The fire damaged the ship's auxiliary engines.
On 12 May 2009, DFDS reported they had agreed to sell ''Queen of Scandinavia'' to a new Finland-based company
Nordic Sea Line, with a delivery date set for June 2009.
Nordic Sea Line planned on using the ship as a floating hotel and conference centre around Northern Europe.
However, the sale was cancelled as Nordic Sea Line failed to make the initial payment that was due on 15 May 2009.
After the end of the accommodation ship contract in Oskarshamn ''Queen of Scandinavia'' was moved to
Klaipėda
Klaipėda (; ; german: Memel; pl, Kłajpeda; russian: Клайпеда; sgs, Klaipieda) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. The capital of the eponymous county, it is the third largest city and the only major seaport in Lithuania ...
, Lithuania, for further lay-up. From December 2009, the ship was chartered to the Danish police as an accommodation ship in
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 ...
.
2010–2016: ''Princess Maria''
In early 2010, ''Queen of Scandinavia'' was chartered to
St. Peter Line for use on a new route operated by the company between
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
and
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...
. She was renamed ''Princess Maria'', re-registered to Malta and entered service on 21 April.
In February 2014, ''Princess Maria'' was used as floating hotel during the
Winter Olympics
The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...
in
Sochi, along with the second passenger ferry of
St. Peter Line, ''
SPL Princess Anastasia'', which passed through the
Strait of Gibraltar on 16 January 2014.
2016–present: ''Moby Dada''
In 2016,
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 ...
acquired shares in St. Peter Line, with the intention of moving ''Princess Maria'' to Moby's operations in the Mediterranean Sea, with ''Princess Anastasia'' remaining with St. Peter Line. On 8 November 2016 she completed her last sailing for St Peter Line and two days later was renamed ''Moby Dada'' and brought under the Italian flag of registry whilst docked in St Petersburg, Russia.
As of June 2017, ''Moby Dada'' is operating between the French port of
Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...
and
Bastia
Bastia (, , , ; co, Bastìa ) is a commune in the department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest population of any commune on the is ...
,
Corsica.
She is painted in a multicoloured livery featuring
Looney Tunes characters, with the hull painted predominately red on the port side, and predominantly blue on the starboard side.
In September 2017 Moby Lines accepted an agreement with the Spanish Ministry of Home Affairs (Ministerio del Interior), for the purpose to lodge Spanish police officers in case the government were directed to intervene in the announced Independence vote in Catalunya on 1 October 2017. The ''Moby Dada'' was laid up in the Port of Barcelona as an accommodation service to the around 1000 police officers that had been ordered to participate in the government intervention in the elections.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moby Dada
Ships built in Turku
Ferries of Russia
Cruiseferries
1980 ships
DFDS