GTS Finnjet - Overview

Overview

Finnjet was built by Wärtsilä at the Helsinki New Shipyard (now Aker Finnyards) (Build-No. 407) in Helsinki, Finland and delivered to Enso-Gutzeit to serve in their subsidiary Finnlines. The ship was built specifically for the route between Helsinki in Finland and Travemünde in West Germany which Finnlines had previously trafficked with slower conventional ferries. Thanks to her gas turbine engines and top speed of 31 knots (57 km/h), a one-way crossing was planned to take only 22 hours for the ship. At the time Travemünde was the closest port to Finland in mainland Western Europe, being located in the Federal German state of Schleswig-Holstein just west of the border with East Germany.

In addition to being the largest and fastest ship of her time, Finnjet is also widely considered to have been the first genuine cruiseferry. Her cabins were very much ahead of their time for a ferry, it was not until over a decade later when other ferries would match the size and fittings of Finnjet 's cabins. Her restaurants and other services were also superior to other ferries of her time. Finnjet 's influence can be clearly seen on the first genuine cruiseferries built for Finland–Sweden traffic in 1980–81, ships such as MS Viking Song, MS Viking Sally and MS Finlandia.

Partially due to being such a ground-breaking ship, Finnjet was also extremely prestigious, which helps explain why she remained in traffic on the Baltic Sea for such a long time even though she was often unprofitable. Famous Finnish painter Kimmo Kaivanto provided paintings and drawings to decorate the ship, and he even designed a Finnjet medallion to commemorate the ship's commission. Kaivanto's main work for the ship, the three-deck high Pictures of Finland, was given to the Finnish Maritime Museum in 2007, destined for display in the museum from 2008 onwards. In 1977 a 7" single, Finnjet Waltz, was recorded in honour of the ship, and she was the first ship ever to have a Lego model of her for sale on board. As late as the early 1990s Silja Line still considered Finnjet to be one of their greatest ships, and in their brochures she appeared right after the brand-new Helsinki–Stockholm ferries, ahead of many ships that were both newer and larger than Finnjet herself was. Finnjet still remains the best-known individual ship in Finland. She also has a very good reputation in Germany still, and recently (August 2006) Silja Line's new owners Tallink went on record considering adapting the name 'Finnjet' for their Finland–Germany ferries (to the dismay of ferry enthustiasts in Finland and Germany). However Finnjet is a registered trademark of Finnlines (until 2017) and therefore Tallink could not go ahead with their plan.