Finnlines' new ships will enter service in 2023
Construction of the Superstars at the China Merchants Jinling shipyard in Weihai began in June 2021. Both vessels have already been launched and are floating side by side. From the outside, the ships look quite ready, but there is still a lot of work ahead. In this series of posts, we will show the final climax of the building of Superstars.
So far, the construction of the ships has progressed on schedule. Finnsirius is slightly ahead of Finncanopus and also starts its domestic journey from China to Finland first. According to the schedule, Finnsirius will arrive in Finland in the summer and start operations in the fall. Finncanopus will follow so that it will be in traffic in 2023.
But what the hell Superstar?
Finnlines already has eight cargo-passenger, i.e. ropax, ships. Five of them, Europalink, Finnlady, Finnmaid, Finnstar and Finnswan, belong to the Star category. The new ships, Finnsirius and Finncanopus, belong to the Super star class. Compared to the stars, Finncanopus and Finnsirius are quite super. They are longer, wider and higher. Superstars carry more passengers, cars and cargo and are even more environmentally friendly!
Superstars are about 16.2 meters longer than Star-class ships. Fun facts: the length of the ship is calculated as the distance from the tip of the bow to the outermost part of the stern. The official English term is length overall, abbreviated as LOA. The plump part at the water line of the bow is called the bulb, which does not increase the length of the ship, because the tip of the bow and the extreme end of the bulb are usually in the same place on ships. In Ropax, the outer part of the tail is playfully called the duck tail.
| Comparison | Superstar class ropax | Star class ropax |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 235 m | 218.8 m |
| Width | 33.3 m | 30.5 m |
| GT (gross tonnage) | 64,600 | 46 124 |
| Band meters | 5200 m | 4215 m |
| Draft | 7.1 m | 7.1 m |
| Passengers | 1100 | 554 |
| Passenger cabins | 323 | 200 |
| Crew cabins | 64 | 38 |
| Restaurants & bars | 7 | 3 |
The brightest stars in the night sky and the Baltic Sea
Superstars are new, cool and innovative, so the name Superstar might not even need justification, but there is still a little background story. The names are inspired by the stars of the night sky, Sirius and Canopus.
Sirius is the brightest star in the starry sky as seen from Earth. It belongs to the constellation Canis Major. The true brightness of Sirius is twenty times the brightness of the Sun. Sirius is also called the Dog Star. You can probably guess from this which animal is the mascot of Finnsirius and actually of both Superstars. Maybe you guessed right? We'll come back to the answer later.
Canopus, on the other hand, is the second brightest star in the sky. Canopus belongs to the Köl constellation. Wait, a keel , like a ship's keel? Does it hurt? Decide for yourself! Unfortunately, the Canopus star is not visible in Finland, and to admire its brightness, you have to travel south, at least to the southern parts of the Mediterranean.
At Finnlines, the prefix of several ships is Finn- , and Finnsirius and Finncanopus are no exception in this regard. So that's the explanation for the names of the Superstar class and the ships.
Finncanopus and Finnsirius, i.e. Finnlines' new superstars, are named after the brightest stars in the sky. Sirius can also be seen in Finland, but Canopus can be seen further south, at Mediterranean latitudes. In the picture, the ships are under construction abreast at the Weihain shipyard (situation March 2023). Finnsirius is four months ahead of Finncanopus in its level of readiness.
The new superstars of the Finland-Sweden route
Finnlines has operated on the Naantali-Långnäs-Kapellskär route since 1997. Finnlines' Finland-Sweden route is like a bridge between mainland Finland, Åland and Sweden. New superstars are now coming to this route. Cargo travels every day of the year, and Finnlines is proud to be a part of Finland's vital security of supply.
The cargo capacity of Superstars is about 20 percent larger compared to Star class ships. Freight on Superstars moves more than five kilometers at a time! Freight traffic is indeed the heart of the Grimaldi family, the owner of Finnlines, but so are all passengers sailing on cargo-passenger ships. Superstars will have seven restaurants, a spa department, ten cabin classes and a large tax free shop. With the services and good food, a route trip or a cruise goes smoothly. Superstars are travel destinations in themselves where you can spend a seaside staycation vacation. It's new for Finnlines, which is usually used to transporting cargo, vehicles and people from place A to place B.
Finnlines' new Superstar class ships focus on having fun on the trip. Observation picture of the bow's Stellar lounge.
Glossary for the world of Finnlines
| Ropax vessel | Cargo-passenger ships, of which Finnlines has eight in operation (and two under construction) |
| Roro vessel | A cargo ship where the cargo travels out and in on rubber wheels. The abbreviation comes from the words roll-on, roll-off . Finnlines has thirteen ro-ro ships in operation. Check Finnlines' entire fleet |
| Band meter | Tells the cargo capacity of a roro or ropax vessel. The ship can take on board the number of wheeled cargo and vehicles indicated in meters. |
| Star class | Finnlines' ropax ships built in 2006–2007, with 554 passenger seats and 4215 lane meters |
| Superstar class | Finnlines' ropax ships with 1100 passenger seats and 5200 lane meters will be completed in 2023. The superstars are called Finnsirius and Finncanopus. |
Similar News
