zoomImage Courtesy: Finnlines

In response to growing volumes, Finland-based RoRo and passenger services operator Finnlines has decided to expand its fleet with MS Europalink, a Star-class passenger-freight vessel.

Specifically, Finnlines’ Swedish subsidiary, Rederi Aktiebolaget Nordö-Link, bought the 2007-built ship from the Grimaldi Group on January 26, in accordance with the purchase agreement signed earlier.

Back in 2013, the ship was sold by Finnlines to the parent company because of insufficient volumes in the Baltic. However, volume trends have reversed and the vessel will join the company on the Germany/Sweden trade.

As informed, MS Europalink will be fitted with exhaust gas scrubbers in mid-March and it will start sailing under the Swedish flag on the Malmö–Travemünde route.

The vessel, which has a capacity of 4,215 lane meters and 554 passengers, will undergo refurbishment in the public areas, according to the company.

Last year, the company launched an investment program to lengthen four of its Breeze-series RoRo ships, including the two optional ones.

The first lengthened vessel from the batch, MS Finntide, was delivered to the company in November 2017.

Finnlines said that the second vessel, MS Finnwave, has also completed lengthening and is now 30 meters longer. The capacity of the vessel is now 4,192 lane meters, which means that the lengthening added 1,000 lane meters. MS Finnwave has returned to the normal traffic on Uusikaupunki/Turku–Travemünde route.

By the end of May, a further two vessels, MS Finnsun and MS Finnsky, will be lengthened.