Tallink Grupp says its vessel Silja Serenade, which is currently suspended from traffic in Helsinki due to the ongoing coronavirus epidemic and travel restrictions, will next week be sent to Naantali, Turku Repair Yard for essential maintenance works. The technical works required for the ship’s class renewal were originally scheduled to take place this autumn, but have been brought forward since the vessel is currently not in operation and is waiting for passenger traffic between Finland and Sweden to resume after the state of emergency in Finland ends.
The vessel will be at the Naantali shipyard between 20-30 April 2020 and during the docking regular maintenance of the ship’s hull, replacement of some of the ships pipework and some electrical works, and, will be carried out. Upgrades to passenger areas were not part of the original autumn docking plans and no such upgrades will be carried out during this docking.
„Since some of our vessels are currently suspended in ports during this crisis period, it made every sense to bring the planned docking forward from later this year and make the best use of this idle time. We are grateful to our partners at BLRT, operating the Turku Repair Yard, for flexibility and for fitting us in at short notice, so we can get the necessary works done before the travel restrictions are hopefully lifted and our ships can return to their usual routes,“ Tallink Grupp’s Head of Ship Management, Captain Tarvi-Carlos Tuulik, said.
All vessels must go through regular hull inspections and technical maintenance at least twice in five years and the maximum time between the two dockings cannot exceed 36 months. Silja Serenade’s docking was originally scheduled to take place in November this year and the vessel was due to be off the Helsinki-Stockholm route for 10 days. The docking of the vessel early and while it is suspended in port anyway means there will be less disruption to passengers on this route in the autumn.
AS Tallink Grupp is one of the leading providers of passenger transport and cargo transport services in the northern part of the Baltic Sea region. The company owns 14 vessels and operates seven ferry routes under the brand names of Tallink and Silja Line. AS Tallink Grupp employs over 7,000 people in Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Russia and Germany. In 2019, Tallink Grupp provided services to 9.8 million travellers and transported approximately 380,000 freight units of goods. The shares of Tallink Grupp are listed on the Tallinn Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Helsinki Stock Exchange.