Succeeded by Star-class ferry Active 4 | Completed 4 Type Ro-pax ferry | |
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Builders Stocznia Gdańska, Gdańsk, Poland Operators Finnlines, Grimaldi Ferries | ||
The Hansa class is a class of four ro-pax ferries originally built by Stocznia Gdańska, Poland for Finncarriers-Poseidon service. Following a merger of Finncarriers and Poseidon to Finnlines, all ships of this class came to be owned by Finnlines. As of 2009, three ships (Transeuropa, Finnpartner and Finntrader) are operated on Finnlines' routes connecting Finland and Sweden to Germany, while one ship (Euroferry Sicilia) sails with Grimaldi Ferries on their Genoa–Catania–Malta service.
History
The Hansa class ships were built mainly as freight-carrying vessels, but they also provided a daily passenger-transporting service between Finland and Germany, in direct competition with GTS Finnjet, a former Finnlines ferry then owned by Silja Line. Originally all Hansa class ships were used in traffic from Helsinki to Lübeck.
The first ship of the class, MS Finnhansa, was delivered on 3 August 1994, with MS Finnpartner following on 12 February 1995, MS Transeuropa on 31 May 1995 and MS Finntrader on 26 October 1995. The three Finn-prefixed ships were owned by Finncarriers and registered in Helsinki while Transeuropa was owned by Poseidon and registered in Lübeck. Following a series of mergers between companies owned by Finnlines and brand simplification, in 2000 the ownership of all the ships passed to Finnlines. In 2001 the German terminus of the route was changed to Travemünde.
Following the delivery of new Star class ships for the Helsinki–Travemünde service in 2006 and 2007 MS Finntrader and MS Finnpartner were taken off the Finland–Germany service and rebuilt at Remontowa, Poland with bow gates and additional cabin spaces. After the refit, on 19 February 2007, the Finntrader began service on Finnlines' Malmö–Travemünde route. At the same time the ship's homeport was changed from Helsinki to Malmö and her original cream/green colour scheme was changed to Finnlines' while/blue. The Finnpartner was rebuilt with similar modifications and joined the Finntrader on the Malmö–Travemünde service in July 2007.
In April 2009 Finnhansa was sold to Grimaldi Ferries (who have the same parent company as Finnlines), and entered service on their Genoa–Catania–Malta service under the name Euroferry Sicilia. Despite this change of ownership the ship at least initially retained its cream/green Finnlines livery with Finnlines company markings.