Finland Steamship Company (, abbreviated ''FÅA'', , abbreviated ''SHO'') was a Finnish shipping company founded in 1883 by Captain Lars Krogius. In Finnish and Swedish, the company was usually referred to simply as FÅA. In 1976, the company changed its name to Effoa, a phonetic spelling of the abbreviation FÅA. The company was a founding member of the

Silja Line Silja Line is a Finnish shipping company and cruiseferry brand owned and operated by the Estonian shipping company AS Tallink Grupp, for car, cargo and passenger traffic between Finland and Sweden. The former company Silja Oy—today Tallink S ...

consortium. In 1975 FÅA founded Finncarriers together with

Finnlines Finnlines Plc (, ) is a shipping operator of Roll-on/roll-off, ro-ro and passenger services in the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, and the Celtic Sea. It is a subsidiary of the Grimaldi Group. Finnlines’ sea transports are concentrated in the Balt ...

as a joint freight operations venture. At the same time FÅA gave up passenger traffic between Finland and Germany, the ships used on the route were sold to Finnlines. In the 1980s both Finncarriers and Finnlines became fully owned subsidiaries of Effoa. In 1989 Effoa decided to give up its freight-carrying operations, and its shares of Finnlines were transferred to Effoa's owners. Effoa stopped trading as an independent company in 1990 when its freight operations were demerged to form an independent

, while the passenger operations were merged with Johnson Line (the other partner in Silja Line at the time) to form

EffJohn Silja Line is a Finnish shipping company and cruiseferry brand owned and operated by the Estonian shipping company Tallink, AS Tallink Grupp, for car, cargo and passenger traffic between Finland and Sweden. The former company Silja Oy—today Ta ...

. In 1945, FÅA was the first company post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

to restart passenger traffic between

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

and

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, using . The same ship was also the first to start passenger traffic between Helsinki and

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

after World War II in 1965.

Ships

* ''

Arcturus , - bgcolor="#FFFAFA" , Note (category: variability): , , H and K emission vary. Arcturus is a red giant star in the Northern celestial hemisphere, northern constellation of Boötes, and the brightest star in the constellation. It ha ...

'' (1899–57) — Passenger ship that operated primarily on the Hanko –

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

–

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

route. * (1925–30) — Sunk when ''Arcturus'' collided with it in fog. * (1927–67) — Restarted

–

and

–

traffic after World War II. Scrapped in 1969. * (1964–80) — Later the casino cruise ship ''Palm Beach Princess''. Scrapped in 2011. * (1967–76) — Effoa's first modern car/passenger ferry. Scrapped in 2009. * (1972–78) — First ship to start year-round traffic between Helsinki and Stockholm. Scrapped in 2004. * ''

Finlandia ''Finlandia'', Op. 26, is a tone poem by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It was written in 1899 and revised in 1900. The piece was composed for the Press Celebrations of 1899, a covert protest against increasing censorship from the R ...

'' (1981–90) — Largest

cruiseferry A cruiseferry is a ship that combines the features of a cruise ship and a Ro-Pax ferry. Many passengers travel with the ships for the cruise experience, staying only a few hours at the destination port or not leaving the ship at all, while ot ...

of her time. Later ''Queen of Scandinavia'' of

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) in ...

. * (1986–90) — Bought from

Enso-Gutzeit Stora Enso Oyj (from and ) is a Finnish and Swedish forest industry company. It develops and produces various materials, mostly based on wood, for a range of industries and applications worldwide. It has headquarters in Helsinki, Finland, and ...

. The longest and fastest cruise ferry of her time, and still fastest as of 2008.

References

External links

Finland Steamship Company at TheShipList

Silja Line company website
{{Authority control Defunct companies of Finland Defunct shipping companies Transport companies established in 1883 Shipping companies of Finland Defunct transport companies of Finland 1880s establishments in Finland