In October 2018, Rauma Marine Constructions and Tallink signed a letter of intent to build an environmentally friendly car and passenger ferry for the scheduled service between Tallinn and Helsinki. The ship, with a value of approximately 250 million euros, will be built at Rauma shipyard. RMC now looks strengthen its organisation and recruit more talent.
The planning of the Tallink Shuttle ship, which will operate on the Helsinki- Tallinn route, will start in spring 2019 and building will commence in 2020. The vessel will be delivered to Tallink at the end of 2021.
The new vessel is the biggest newbuild order as of yet for RMC. The passenger capacity of the ship will be 2,800 people. According to the company, the newest technology and innovative solutions will be utilised in the design phase to ensure that the vessel will be as energy-efficient and environmentally friendly as possible.
Jyrki Heinimaa, CEO, Rauma Marine Constructions, says that the recruitment of more employees is already underway.
“This is outstanding news for shipbuilding in Rauma. RMC’s four-year journey has been consistent and the letter of intent with Tallink represents a natural continuation of our development,” he says, estimating the order’s impact on employment to total around 1,500 person-years.
Over the years, Rauma shipyard has built a total of four vessels for Tallink Grupp. In addition, two more vessels have been designed at the shipyard. Baltic Queen, the previous vessel built at Rauma shipyard, was completed in 2009 and operates nowadays on the Tallinn-Stockholm route.
According to Heinimaa, Tallink has always shown appreciation for the shipbuilding expertise in Rauma. “This is an opportunity for us to utilise our longstanding experience and to help steer the ship traffic between Finland and Estonia in a more environmentally friendly direction,” says Heinimaa.
Tallink Grupp and RMC are now working on finalising the contract and financial arrangements.
By: Sami J. Anteroinen
