The MS Fennia was a car-passenger ferry built in 1966 for Siljavarustamo / Siljarederiet. During her long career Fennia also sailed for Jakob Lines and Vaasanlaivat / Vasabåtarna, and spent short times chartered to Sessan Linjen, SAGA Linjen, B&I Line, Baltic Line and SeaWind Line. In 2001 the ship was sold to RG Line and renamed Casino Express.
In 2007, after being laid up since 2005, the ship was sold to Attar Construction Ltd and renamed C. Express. Concerned about the hazardous materials inside the ship, the Finnish Environment Institute issued a transport ban on the vessel to prevent her from being moved for scrapping in inappropriate conditions. The ban was lifted in July 2009 and the ship, renamed Onyx, left Finland in late 2009. In April 2010 the ship changed hands again and the new owner, Red Line Shipping Ltd, renamed her Kaptain Boris and sailed her directly to Gadani Beach, Pakistan, where she was beached for scrapping on 8 May 2010.
History
1966–1984
In the 1960s Siljavarustamo / Siljarederiet (daughter company of Finland Steamship Company (FÅA), Steamship Company Bore and Rederi AB Svea) started traffic between Finland and Sweden for the first time on genuine car-passenger ferries, the first of these being delivered in 1961. In 1964 a new, larger ferry was ordered from Öresundsvarvet in Landskrona, Sweden, for service between Turku and Stockholm. The brand-new ferry, christened Fennia, made her maiden voyage on 7 May 1966. She was at the time the largest ferry in traffic between Finland and Sweden.
Already in the same year Fennia faced problems when she ran aground hear Bogskär on 16 October 1966. On the following day cars and trucks carried on board were transferred on board her fleetmates Holmia and Nordia, and on 18 October she sailed with the help of a tugboat to Finnboda shipyard in Stockholm for repairs. The repairs took quite some time and it was not until 17 December that Fennia returned to traffic.
In spring 1968, an American company made an offer to buy Fennia, but it was turned down. In June 1970 the ship's ownership passed to Svea Line (Finland), when the ownership of Silja Line was reorganised and the former joint daughter company became a marketing company for FÅA, Bore and Svea. In early 1971, Fennia was painted in Silja Line's new all-white livery. During the same year she suffered from two accidents, first on 10 March when she accidentally rammed the quay in Turku in dense fog, suffering serious damage to her bow, and the second time on 14 December when she collided with the Polish freighter Rusalka in the Turku archipelago. This time damages were minimal.
After the partner companies of Silja Line took delivery of three new large ferries for Helsinki–Stockholm and Turku–Stockholm routes in 1975, Fennia spent portions of the following years either laid up or chartered to other companies. Between January and April 1975 she was docked in Helsingör, where her engines were changed to more powerful MaK diesels. Between July and October of the same year the ship sailed on the Turku–Åland–Norrtälje (Sweden) route. In June 1976, Fennia became the first ship to visit Valmet's new shipyard in Kotka. In October 1977 she was laid up in Turku until the Swedish Sessan Linjen company chartered her for traffic from Gothenburg (Sweden) to Travemünde (Germany) and Frederikshavn (Denmark) between January and March 1978. After the charter she was briefly laid up again, until in late April she returned to Turku–Stockholm traffic. She was again chartered off for the duration of January 1979, when she sailed between Malmö (Sweden) and Travemünde for SAGA Linjen.
After the charter, Fennia stayed on the Turku–Stockholm traffic until November 1982, when she was laid up and put up for sale. No buyer was immediately forthcoming, and for the summer season 1983 she was chartered to the Irish B&I Line for traffic between Pembroke–Cork. Fennia was found to be ill-suited for this traffic as she had no stabilisers. Finally in November 1983 Fennia was sold, to the Finnish Jakob Lines for delivery in 1984. Before her sale, Fennia served for Silja Line one more time, this time on the Helsinki–Stockholm route in January and February 1984 when the route's normal ships were being docked.