MS Estonia was a cruiseferry built in 1980 for the Finnish shipping company Rederi Ab Sally by Meyer Werft, in Papenburg, West Germany. It was employed on ferry routes between Finland and Sweden by various companies until the end of January 1993, when it was sold to Nordström & Thulin for use on Estline's Tallinn–Stockholm route. The ship's sinking on 28 September 1994, in the Baltic Sea between Sweden, Finland and Estonia, was one of the worst peacetime maritime disasters of the 20th century, claiming 852 lives. An official inquiry found that failure of the locks on the bow visor caused water to flood the car deck and quickly capsize the ship. The report also noted a lack of crew action. A 2023 investigation noted additional construction flaws in the bow visor.
SeaWind Line was a subsidiary of the Finnish passenger shipping company Silja Line, later owned by the Estonian company Tallink. In 2010, the Sea Wind brand ceased to exist and the remaining ship, MS Sea Wind, was transferred to Tallink colours. MS Sea Wind is dedicated to cargo shipping only, operating also as a train ferry on the route Turku-Stockholm. The ship is one of the most important carriers of railway carriages between Finland and Sweden. However, according to Tallink CEO Enn Pant, the company currently has little interest in continuing the train-ferry traffic, as transporting trains generates less income than transporting other cargo.
Tallink is an Estonian shipping company operating Baltic Sea cruiseferries and ropax ships from Estonia to Finland, Estonia to Sweden and Finland to Sweden. It is the largest passenger and cargo shipping company in the Baltic Sea region. It owns Silja Line and a part of SeaRail. Tallink Hotels runs four hotels in Tallinn. It is also the co-owner of a taxi company Tallink Takso.
The Baltic Sea is crossed by several cruiseferry lines. Some important shipping companies are Viking Line, Silja Line, Tallink, St. Peter Line and Eckerö Line.
A heavy-lift ship is a vessel designed to move very large loads that cannot be transported by normal ships. They are of two types:
The Old City Harbour is the main passenger harbour in Tallinn, Estonia. Regular lines serve routes to Helsinki (Finland) and Stockholm (Sweden)
Beluga Shipping was a German heavy-lift shipping company in the Hanseatic city of Bremen. It was a world market leader in heavy-lift shipping and also highly innovative in related fields. As such, it was the first to equip ships of its fleet with SkySails that can reduce fuel consumption by up to 5%, and was the first company to send a heavy-lift ship from Europe to Asia along the Northern Sea Route through the Arctic Ocean rather than through the Suez Canal. The company was declared insolvent in March 2011, affecting 670 employees.
MS Georg Ots was a cargo/passenger ferry that sailed between Helsinki, Finland and Tallinn, Estonia from 1980 to 2000. From 2002 it was used as a cargo/passenger ferry that sailed between Saint Petersburg and Baltiysk. The ship was built for the Estonian Shipping Company. The 12,600-ton ship could carry 1200 passengers, thirteen 13.6 m-long trailers or 107 passenger cars. It was named after the Estonian baritone, Georg Ots. In 2002 she was sold to the St. Petersburg Shipping Company and sailed until 2010. In 2012 the ship was rented to an unnamed company that sailed it to China and illegally sold it to be scrapped.
Port of Tallinn is the biggest port authority in Estonia. Taking into account both cargo and passenger traffic, it is one of the largest port enterprises of the Baltic Sea.
A hulk was a type of medieval ship used mostly for transports. The hulk appears to have remained a relatively minor type of sailing ship apparently peculiar to the Low Countries of Europe where it was probably used primarily as a river or canal boat, with limited potential for coastal cruising. The only evidence of hulks is from legal documents and iconography, though it is possible that a shipwreck found on the coast of Estonia in early 2022 might be the only known surviving example of a hulk.
Estonian Maritime Academy of Tallinn University of Technology is a vocational university in Estonia. It is one of the schools of Tallinn University of Technology and it is the only educational institution in Estonia that offers professional higher education, Master’s and Doctoral level education in the maritime field. The university is located in the capital Tallinn but also has two centres in Saaremaa. In addition to higher education, the school contributes to research, provides training and offers services. The Academy also holds a one of a kind Simulator Centre and has a whole dedicated floor of hi-tech laboratories.
Muuga Harbour is the largest cargo port in Estonia, located on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, 17 kilometres (11 mi) northeast of the capital Tallinn, in Maardu. The harbour is administrated by Port of Tallinn, the biggest port authority in Estonia. Muuga Harbour is one of the few ice-free ports in northernmost Europe and among the deepest —up to 18 metres (59 ft) — and most modern ports in the Baltic Sea region. The cargo volume handled accounts for around 80% of the total cargo volume of Port of Tallinn and approximately 90% of the transit cargo volume passing through Estonia. Nearly 3/4 of cargo loaded in Muuga Harbour includes crude oil and oil products, but the harbour also serves dry bulk and other types of cargo.
MT Vulcanus, also known as Vulcanus I, Oragreen, Kotrando, and Erich Schröder, is a cargo ship first placed in service in 1956 that was used from 1972 to 1990 as an incinerator ship and later as a tanker.
SS Eestirand, built in 1910, was an Estonian steel-hulled cargo steamship. She was one of the largest ships in her class at the time and served as the mother-ship of the first Estonian herring expeditions in the 1930s. After Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, she was used as a Soviet Navy transport vessel in World War II until beached in 1941 on Prangli Island during the Soviet evacuation of Tallinn.
Volochaevsk was a Hansa A Type cargo ship which was built as Weserwald in 1943 by Deutsche Werft, Hamburg, Germany for Norddeutsche Lloyd, Hamburg. She was seized as a prize of war in 1945, passing to the Ministry of War Transport and renamed Empire Galveston. She was allocated to the Soviet Union in 1946 and was renamed Volochaevsk. She served until 1973, when she was scrapped.
Ribinsk was a Hansa A Type cargo ship which was built as Hendrik Fisser VI in 1943 by NV Werft Gusto, Schiedam, Netherlands for Fisser & Van Doornum, Emden Germany. She was seized as a prize of war in 1945, passing to the Ministry of War Transport and renamed Empire Garner. She was allocated to the Soviet Union in 1946 and was renamed Ribinsk. She served until 1975, when she was scrapped.
