MS Regina Della Pace

MS Fantaasia in St. Petersburg in 2004
Career
Name:	1979—1988: Turella 1988—1996: Stena Nordica 1996—1998: Lion King 1998—2008: Fantaasia 2008—2010: Kongshavn 2010 onwards: Regina Della Pace
Owner:	1979—1988: SF Line 1988—1996: Stena Line 1996—1997: Lion Ferry 1997—2008: Tallink 2008—2010: Kystlink 2010 onwards: Blue Line International
Operator:	1979—1988: SF Line (in Viking Line traffic) 1988—1996: Stena Line 1996—1997: Lion Ferry 1997—2005: Tallink 2005: Algerie Ferries 2006: Tallink 2006—2007: COMANAV 2007: Algerie Ferries 2007—2008: Kystlink 2010 onwards: Blue Line International
Port of registry:	1979—1988: Mariehamn, Finland 1988—1996: Gothenburg, Sweden 1996—1998: Halmstad, Sweden 1998—2008: Tallinn Estonia 2008—2010: Langesund Norway 2010: Valletta, Malta 2010 onwards: Panama City, Panama
Ordered:	17 March 1978
Builder:	Wärtsilä Turku shipyard, Finland
Yard number:	1242
Launched:	21 November 1978
Christened:	21 November 1978 by Margareta Lundqvist
Acquired:	4 June 1979
In service:	4 June 1979
Identification:	IMO number: 7807744
Status:	Laid up at Sandefjord
General characteristics (as built)
Type:	Cruiseferry
Tonnage:	10,604 GRT 3,700 metric tons deadweight (DWT)
Length:	136.11 m (446 ft 7 in)
Beam:	24.20 m (79 ft 5 in)
Draught:	5.40 m (17 ft 9 in)
Ice class:	1 A
Installed power:	4 × Wärtsilä-Pielstick 12PC2-2V diesels 17650 kW
Speed:	21.5 kn (39.82 km/h)
Capacity:	1700 passengers 740 passenger beds 554 cars
General characteristics (as Kongshavn)
Tonnage:	16,405 GT
Decks:	10
Speed:	19 kn (35.19 km/h)
Capacity:	1550 passengers 1440 lanemeters
Notes:	Otherwise the same as built

MS Regina Della Pace is a cruiseferry owned by the Croatia-based ferry operator Blue Line International, and operated on their service between Split and Ancona. She was built in 1979 as MS Turella by Wärtsilä Turku, Finland for SF Line for use in Viking Line traffic. In 1988 she was sold to Stena Line, becoming MS Stena Nordica. In 1996 she transferred to Lion Ferries and was renamed MS Lion King. In 1998 she was sold to Tallink and renamed MS Fantaasia. As Fantaasia she also sailed under charter to Algerie Ferries, COMANAV and Kystlink during the years 2005–2008. Following the end of her charter to Kystlink in 2008 the latter company bought her, renaming her MS Kongshavn. After Kystlink was declared bankrupt in late 2008 the ship was laid up until sold to her current owners in 2010.

Concept and construction

SF Line begun planning for a new larger ferry for the Viking Line traffic between South-West Finland and Sweden in the mid-70's. The main person in charge of the design of the new ship was SF Line's founder and CEO Gunnar Eklund, with his son Nils-Erik Eklund and the company's technical inspector Kaj Jansson participating in the design process. Experiences from SF Line's previous newbuildings—particularly MS Aurella of 1973—heavily influenced the design of the new vessel, which was drawn with large car-decks. However, the new vessel was planned to be twice as large in terms of gross register tonnage as Aurella, and she was to have twice as many cabins.

In 1976 SF Line asked for tenders from various shipyards around the world for construction of a 1700-passenger, 540-car ferry. The cheapest bid, 80 million Finnish markka (20 million United States dollar by exchange rates of the time) was made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan who outbid the Finnish Wärtsilä shipyard by 36 million markka. On 13 September 1977 SF Line signed a contract with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for construction of a ferry. However, the funding of the project was subject to approval by the Bank of Finland and as at the time the employment level in Finland's shipyards were low, the Bank of Finland decided not to grant its approval to the project's funding with hopes of forcing the company to order a ship from a Finnish shipyard. After prolonged negotiations between both SF Line and the Bank of Finland as well as SF Line and Wärtsilä, SF Line placed an order with Wärtsilä on 17 March 1978. In the end the cost of the ship from Wärtsilä was approximately 15% more expensive than it would have been if built by Mitsubishi, despite a subvension of 17 million markka from the Bank of Finland.

As with most previous newbuildings of Viking Line, the details of the ship's interior design were entrusted to Robert Tillberg of Tillberg Design. Due to the ship's larger size her onboard services could be greatly upgraded from the previous-generation ships, with accommodations and public spaces close to standards of the time's cruise ships. For the first time on a Viking Line ship trafficking between continental Finland and Sweden the ship included an à la carte restaurant in addition to the traditional buffet (Rederi AB Slite's cruise ship SS Apollo III had already had an à la carte restaurant since 1976, but she only trafficked between the Åland islands and Sweden). SF Line's new ship was also given large conference facilities by the day's standards, capable of hosting 80 people.

The basic design of the newbuilding was apparently successful, as even before she was completed SF Line's fellow Viking Line members Rederi AB Slite and Rederi Ab Sally asked access to the ship's plans so that they could order additional ships of the same design. However, in the end Slite opted to order a slightly larger vessel from Meyer Werft in Germany, while SF Line refused to give Sally access to the new ship's plans and as a result Sally too placed an order with Meyer Werft.

The keel of SF Line's newbuilding was laid on 10 August 1978. She was launched from drydock on 24 November 1978 and christened MS Turella by Margareta Lundqvist, widow of the major SF Line shareholder Fraenk Lundqvist. On 18 January 1979 SF Line ordered a sister ship for the Turella from Wärtsilä, which eventually entered service in 1980 as MS Rosella. The construction of the Turella was completed on 4 June 1980 and she was delivered to SF Line on the same date, 11 days earlier than agreed.

Turella's sister ship Rosella departing Helsinki in 2006. Externally Rosella is still nearly identical to what Turella looked like in Viking Line service.

History

1979—1987: Viking Line service

Immediately following delivery Turella entered service on Viking Line's Turku—Mariehamn—Stockholm -route, sailing parallel with Rederi AB Slite's slightly larger newbuilding MS Diana II that entered service on 14 June 1979. Turella remained on the Turku—Stockholm service until 2 June 1980, when she was transferred to the shorter and more freight-intensive Naantali—Mariehamn—Kapellskär -route following the delivey of Rederi Ab Sally's new MS Viking Sally—that was even larger than Turella or Diana II—for the Turku service. On the Naantali—Kapellskär service Turella replaced the ageing MS Marella and initially sailed parallel to her brand-new sistership MS Rosella. For the summer season of 1981 Rosella and Diana II switched routes, and from that year onwards Turella again had Diana II as her routemate.

1988—1996: Stena Line and Lion Ferry service

In September 1988 SF Line took delivery of the new MS Amorella, which replaced Rosella on the Turku—Stockholm route. Originally SF Line had agreed to sell the Rosella to Stena Line upon delivery of the new ship. However due to the Amorella being delivered seven months behind schedule the Rosella could not be delivered to Stena when originally agreed. In the end the Turella was sold instead of Rosella, as it was generally in a better condition and easier to convert for the traffic Stena planned her for. After rebuilding at Cityvarvet, Gothenburg, the Turella re-emerged as MS Stena Nordica (a name carried by many Stena Line ships over the years). Stena Nordica was placed a route connecting Gothenburg to Fredrikshavn in Denmark and Moss in Norway. She also occasionally served on the Gotheburg—Kiel route when the ships normally sailing that route were docked. In 1996 Stena Nordica was rebuilt at Öresundsvarvet, Landskrona, Sweden, transferred to the fleet of Stena's subsidiary Lion Ferry and renamed MS Lion King. During the next 1,5 years she sailed on routes Halmstad (Sweden) — Grenå (Denmark) and Karlskrona (Sweden) — Gdynia (Poland).

1996—2005: Tallink service

In the end of the year 1997 Lion King was sold to Tallink, who renamed her MS Fantaasia and placed her on the Helsinki—Tallinn route (where she served alongside her old Viking Line fleetmate MS Meloodia). In 2002 after the delivery of the new MS Romantika, the Fantaasia was moved to the Tallinn—Stockholm route, where she sailed alongside another old fleetmate from the Viking Line days, MS Regina Baltica. In 2004 the new MS Victoria I replaced Fantaasia on the Tallinn—Stockholm route, and from the start of April of the same year Fantaasia opened a new Helsinki—Tallinn—St. Petersburg route for Tallink. Due to a rise in port fees issued by the Russian government and due to visa regulations not being prognosed to get any better between Russia and the European Union as it had been presumed when the line was started, the line was terminated by Tallink on 2 January 2005.

2005—2009: Charters and Kystlink service

Following the collapse of the St. Petersburg traffic, the Fantaasia was swiftly chartered to Algerie Ferries for duration of nine months, during which she sailed between France and Algeria. After the end of the charter she spent some five months laid up in Tallinn until she was placed on Tallink's new Riga—Stockholm route in April 2006. However after little over a month of traffic she was replaced by the larger Regina Baltica, and subsequently chartered to COMANAV until April 2007. Following the end of charter to COMANAV, she was again chartered to Algerie Ferries until October 2007.

Fantaasia at Strömstad during her charter to Kystlink.

Following the second Algerie Ferries charter, the Fantaasia was chartered to the Norway-based Kystlink for three months (with an option for three additional months) from October 2007 onwards to replace their MS Pride of Telemark that was out of service following an accident where the ship rammed the breakwater at Hirtshals, Denmark. Before entering service for Kystlink, Fantaasia was be docked at Cityvarvet, Gothenburg. On 15 November the Swedish Maritime Authority Sjöfartsinspektionen deemed the ship unsafe and prohibited it from leaving Cityvarvet until 18 faults found during the inspection were fixed. Twelve of the faults were considered severe, including several permanently open watertight doors, a nonfunctional loudspeaker system, blocked emergency exists and nonfunctional winches used for lowering lifeboats. According to Tallink, the inspection was made while refitting of the ship was still in process, which they cited as the reason why several onboard systems were turned off-line and normal safety procedures were not observed. On 11 December the ship entered service with Kystlink on their Langesund—Hirtshals and Langesund—Strömstad routes.

On 15 April 2008 the Fantaasia was sold by Tallink to Kystlink, with delivery date set for June of the same year. She was eventually delivered to her new owners on 30 June 2008, subsequently re-registered into Norway and renamed MS Kongshavn. However, Kystlink ceased their traffic on 21 October 2008, with the Kongshavn subsequently laid up at Sandefjord, Norway. In March 2009 Kongshavn was drydocked in Fredericia, Denmark.

2010 onwards: Blue Line service

On 23 December 2009 the Croatian ferry operator Blue Line International was reported to have purchased the Kongshavn, with intention of using her on their service between Ancona and Split. Blue Line took delivery of the ship on 17 March 2010, renamed her Regina Della Pace and initially re-registered her undet the Maltese flag. Prior to entering service with Blue Line on 19 April 2010 the Regina Della Pace was re-registered to Panama.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

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• Blue Line official website