A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manchester and Duluth; these access the sea via rivers or canals. Because of their roles as ports of entry for immigrants as well as soldiers in wartime, many port cities have experienced dramatic multi-ethnic and multicultural changes throughout their histories.
A container ship is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal freight transport and now carry most seagoing non-bulk cargo.
MS Estonia was a cruiseferry built in 1980 for the Finnish company Rederi Ab Sally by Meyer Werft, in Papenburg, West Germany. She was employed on ferry routes between Finland and Sweden by various companies until 1993, when she 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.
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.
Eckerö Line is a Finnish shipping company owned by the Åland-based Rederiaktiebolaget Eckerö. Eckerö Line operates one ferry between Helsinki (Finland) and Tallinn (Estonia). Eckerö Line should not be confused with the similarly named Eckerö Linjen, also owned by Rederiaktiebolaget Eckerö, which operates ferry services between Berghamn in the Åland Islands and Grisslehamn in Sweden.
A heavy-lift ship is a vessel designed to move very large loads that cannot be handled by normal ships. They are of two types:
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.
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.
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.
M/T Vulcanus, also known as Vulcanus I, Oragreen, Kotrando, and Erich Schröder, is a freighter first placed in service in 1956 that was used from 1972 to 1990 as an incinerator ship and later as a tanker.
Peeter All was an Estonian fisherman, farmer, ship captain, shipowner, rescuer of mariners in distress, and salvage diver. He is best known for his multifaceted maritime career and contributions to the Estonian maritime industry.
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.
