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Rederi AB Slite was a Swedish shipping company, founded in 1947. The company was one of the three founding companies of Viking Line. Rederi AB Slite went bankrupt in 1993.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(June 2022) |
Rederi AB Slite was a Swedish shipping company, founded in 1947. The company was one of the three founding companies of Viking Line. Rederi AB Slite went bankrupt in 1993.
Rederi AB Slite was founded by Carl Bertil Myrsten together with his siblings Inga Gattberg, Sven Myrsten and Lars Myrsten in 1947. The oldest brother Robert Myrsten had his own shipping company Rederi AB Robert Myrsten and was not part of Rederi AB Slite. The Myrsten family, from Slite on the island of Gotland, had been in the shipping business since 1867, when Johan Niclas Myrsten founded the dynasty.
In mid-1950s two newbuilt cargo ships, MS Slite and MS Boge were delivered to Slite. In 1959 and 1961 respectively they were rebuilt to be able to load cars and take passengers. [1] : 22 These ships were then put on a route between Simpnäs north of Stockholm and Mariehamn on Åland. [1] : 17 In 1964 the company's first purpose built ferry MS Apollo was delivered. In the early 1960s there was a heavy competition from several companies on the route Sweden - Åland. This led to a cooperation between Slite and Rederi Ab Vikinglinjen, which later became a part of Rederi Ab Sally.
In 1966 the marketing company Viking Line was founded and by now Ålandsfärjan Ab, later SF Line, had joined the cooperation. Viking Line initially had three ships, Ålandsfärjan Ab's SS Ålandsfärjan, Vikinglinjen's SS Viking and Slite's Apollo. Since the name of the marketing company came from one of the other founding companies, Carl Bertil Myrsten demanded that the colour of Viking Line's ships would originate from his company. The discussion regarding colour ended when Inga Gattberg took her favourite lip stick and made a mark on the contract with the words "This is the colour we are going to use". All Viking Line's ships were therefore painted in Apollo's original red colour that now is so characteristic for Viking Line.
During the 1970s and 1980s, ferry traffic between Sweden and Finland expanded heavily. In 1970, Slite's second MS Apollo was delivered from Jos L Meyer in West Germany. Her sister MS Diana entered service two years later.
Due to the increasing internal competition between the three companies within Viking Line, the original route between Kapellskär and Naantali was clogged with Viking Line ships during the first years of the 1970s. The companies tried new routes for their increasing fleets. Rederi Ab Sally and SF Line started traffic between Stockholm and Turku, and Sally also acquired two ships for the Stockholm-Helsinki route. Slite in turn chose to start 24-hour cruises between Stockholm and Mariehamn with the venerable SS Svea Jarl, purchased in 1976 from Silja Line and renamed SS Apollo III. To finance the purchase, the 1970-built Apollo was sold.
In 1979, Diana was replaced by the new building MS Diana II. For a couple of years, Diana II serviced on the Stockholm-Turku route but Sally pushed her back to Kapellskär-Naantali with their bigger MS Viking Sally.
Economic difficulties plagued Rederi Ab Sally in the early 1980s. Despite having the big Viking Sally on the Stockholm - Turku route plus two new large ships on the capital route between Stockholm and Helsinki, Sally was not able to invest in more new ships. This left a spot open for Slite and SF Line to take over the capital route. In 1986, Slite's MS Olympia, at the time the largest passenger ferry in the world, was put into service between Stockholm and Helsinki, replacing Sally's the MS Viking Saga.
In October 1987 Rederi Ab Sally was sold to Effoa, the main owner of rival company Silja Line. The situation of having the main competitor owning 33% of Viking Line became untenable and Sally's shares of Viking Line were sold to Slite and SF Line. Sally's remaining ship in Viking Line service, the Viking Sally, was chartered to Slite for the next three years.
Around the same time, SF Line and Slite ordered new ships again. Slite's MS Athena (1989) replaced the Apollo III in 1989 and by 1990 it was time for the Viking Sally to be replaced with Athena's sister, the MS Kalypso. The Olympia was scheduled for replacement in 1993 when the jewel of the company's crown, the world's largest passenger ferry, MS Europa was to be delivered.
The timing of ordering of new expensive cruise ferries couldn't have been worse for Rederi AB Slite. In October 1989, just weeks after the order of the Europa was signed, the Finnish shipyard Wärtsilä Marine went bankrupt. Wärtsilä had built the Athena for Slite and was about to finish her sister, the Kalypso. The bankruptcy resulted in an increased cost for the Kalypso, about 200 million SEK.
Matters became worse when the Swedish krona was allowed to float in the autumn of 1992. [1] : 85 Because of this, the almost finished Europa built in Germany, suddenly became 500 million SEK more expensive. Slite became unable to pay for the Europa when their bank Nordbanken, which at the time had large sums invested in Slite's main rival Silja Line, withdrew their loan guarantees. [1] : 86 After the loss of Europa, Slite had lost over 550 million SEK within two years, 200 million due to the increased costs for the Kalypso and 350 million lost in advance payments for the Europa. Consequently, Slite was declared bankrupt in April 1993.
All Slite's ships were sold by compulsory auction after the bankruptcy. SF Line made bids on the Athena and the Kalypso but lost them to the heavily investing Malaysian cruise company Star Cruises. SF Line became the sole owner of Viking Line and changed its name to Viking Line Ab.
After the auction of Slite's ships and other assets, it became clear that the bankruptcy was unnecessary.[ citation needed ] All the debts could be paid for with the money gained from the ship sales. It has been speculated that Nordbanken did everything they could to break Slite in order to help their financially poor Silja Line. In March 1993 the Europa entered service for Silja Line as the Silja Europa.
The company was then forced to sell all of its fleet. One of their largest vessels (MS Olympia) was sold to Irish Continental Group and chartered out to P&O Ferries where it was renamed Pride of Bilbao . It operated at P&O for 17 years until 2010.
Not a complete list.
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MS Estonia was a cruiseferry built in 1980 at the West German shipyard Meyer Werft in Papenburg. In 1993, 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 maritime disasters of the 20th century, claiming 852 lives.
MS Silja Europa is a cruiseferry constructed at Meyer Werft Germany for the Swedish ferry operator Rederi AB Slite, a part of Viking Line. At 59,914 gross tonnage (GT), she is the largest ship commissioned for and to ever operate for Tallink Silja, and is the tenth-largest cruiseferry in the world.
Euroway was a Swedish ferry company that operated cruise ferries between Sweden and Germany from 1992 till 1994.
MS Mega Regina is a cruiseferry owned by Corsica Ferries. She was formerly owned and operated by Viking Line as MS Mariella. She was built by the Wärtsilä Perno shipyard in Turku, Finland and delivered to SF Line in 1985. Her sister ship is the Olympia. Mariella was the world's largest cruiseferry from 1985 until 1989, when the accolade passed on to her Viking Line fleetmate MS Athena. Mariella was sold to Corsica Ferries in 2021 and renamed Mega Regina. The ship started traffic on the Mediterranean Sea in summer 2021.
Celestyal Crystal, previously Louis Cristal, is a cruise ship operated by the Cyprus-based Celestyal Cruises and previously Louis Cruise Lines, both in the Louis Group. The ship was originally built as the cruiseferry MS Viking Saga in 1980 at Wärtsilä Perno Shipyard and Turku Shipyard, Turku, Finland for Rederi Ab Sally. In 1986 she was renamed MS Sally Albatross, and rebuilt into a cruise ship the following year. The ship was destroyed by a fire in 1990, and completely rebuilt at Finnyards, Rauma, Finland. She was re-delivered in 1992, still named Sally Albatross. After partially sinking 1994 she was rebuilt at Industrie Navali Meccaniche Affini, La Spezia, Italy, re-entering service as MS Leeward for Norwegian Cruise Line. Subsequently she sailed as MS SuperStar Taurus for Star Cruises, MS Silja Opera for Silja Line and spent a year laid up as MS Opera prior to entering service with her current owner in 2007.
MS Viking Cinderella is a cruiseferry built in 1989 at Wärtsilä Marine Perno Shipyard in Turku, Finland, as MS Cinderella for SF Line, one of the owners of the Viking Line consortium. She's currently used on cruise traffic from Stockholm to Mariehamn and occasionally Riga during the summer.
MS Rosella is a cruiseferry, built in 1980 by Wärtsilä Turku shipyard, Finland for SF Line, one of the owners of the Viking Line consortium. She currently serves Viking Line's Kapellskär–Mariehamn route.
MS Expedition is an expedition cruise ship owned and operated by the Canada-based G Adventures. She was built as a car/passenger ferry in 1972 by Helsingør Skibsværft og Maskinbyggeri A/S, Helsingør, Denmark as Kattegat for Jydsk Færgefart A/S. Subsequently, she sailed under the names nf Tiger for P&O Normandy Ferries, Tiger for Townsend Thoresen and Ålandsfärjan for Viking Line, prior to conversion into a cruise ship in 2008. The MS Expedition has the IMO number 7211074 and is ice-strengthened, having an ice class of 1B. There are two higher classes, being 1A Super and 1A.
MS Bluefort was an accommodation vessel owned by the Canadian-based company Bridgemans Services Group LP. She was built in 1979 as a car/passenger ferry by Meyer Werft, Papenburg, Germany as Diana II av Slite for Rederi AB Slite for use in Viking Line's traffic. She has also sailed under the names Diana II, Vironia, Mare Balticum, Meloodia and ARV 1.
MS Rigel III is a cruiseferry owned by the Greek-based company Ventouris Ferries. She was built in 1979 as MS Turella by Wärtsilä Turku shipyard, Finland for SF Line for use in Viking Line traffic. In 1988 she was sold to Stena Line, becoming MS Stena Nordica. In 1996, she was transferred to Lion Ferry and was renamed MS Lion King. In 1998, she was sold to Tallink and renamed MS Fantaasia. As Fantaasia she also sailed under charter to Algérie Ferries, Comanav and Kystlink during the years 2005–2008. Following the end of her charter to Kystlink in 2008 the latter company bought her, renaming her MS Kongshavn. After Kystlink was declared bankrupt in late 2008 the ship was laid up until sold to the Croatia-based ferry operator Blue Line International, and operated on their service between Split and Ancona as MS Regina della Pace. In 2017 the ship was sold to the Greek-based company Ventouris Ferries and is currently operating on the route Bari-Durres.
MS Star Pisces was a cruise ship owned by Star Cruises and did short cruises from Hong Kong. She was originally built as the cruiseferry MS Kalypso in 1990 at Masa-Yards Turku New Shipyard, Finland for Rederi AB Slite for use in Viking Line traffic. The ship was designed by Per Dockson. Star Pisces had a sister ship, Pearl Seaways.
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MS Pearl Seaways is a cruiseferry owned by DFDS Seaways and operated on their Copenhagen–Frederikshavn-Oslo service. She was built in 1989 by Wärtsilä Marine, Turku, for Rederi AB Slite as MS Athena for use in Viking Line traffic. Between 1993 and 2001, she sailed as MS Langkapuri Star Aquarius. From 2001 to 2011 she sailed as MS Pearl of Scandinavia.
MS Rahal was a car-passenger ferry owned by Bayway Shipping Co and sailing on the Red Sea. She was built in 1972 by Meyer Werft, Papenburg, Germany as Diana for Rederi AB Slite and was previously named Alandia and Jamaa II.
Sally Cruise was a wholly owned subsidiary of Rederi Ab Sally, Finland that operated cruise ships on the Baltic Sea between the years 1986 and 1992. It was merged into Silja Line 1992.
Rederi Ab Sally was a Finnish shipping company founded in 1937 by Algot Johansson. Originally a tanker operator, Sally became a dominant member of the Viking Line shipping consortium in the 1970s. The company met bad times in the 1980s and was bought by its rivals Effoa and Johnson Line in 1987. In 1990 the operations of Sally, Effoa and Johnson Line were merged into EffJohn and Rederi Ab Sally ceased to exist as an independent company.
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.
SF Line was the name of the Finnish shipping company now known as Viking Line. The company, originally named Rederi Ab Ålandsfärjan, was one of three shipping companies that formed shipping marketing company Viking Line in 1966, the other two being Rederi Ab Vikinglinjen and Rederi AB Slite. After the other companies left Viking Line in 1988 and 1993 respectively, SF Line stood as the sole owner of Viking Line. As a result, SF Line changed its name to Viking Line in 1995.