RG Line
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RG Line Oy Ab was a Finnish
shipping company A shipping line or shipping company is a company whose line of business is ownership and operation of ships. Shipping companies provide a method of distinguishing ships by different kinds of cargo: # Bulk cargo is a type of special cargo that is ...
founded in 2001 that operated a ferry line between
Vaasa Vaasa (; , ), formerly (1855-1917) known as Nikolaistad (; ),Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
and
Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; ; ; ; ) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Umeå is the largest Urban areas in Sweden, locality in Norrland and the t ...
,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
until the end of 2012. Nowadays the Vaasa-Umeå line is operated by
Wasa Line Wasaline, previously Oy Vaasa-Umeå Ab (1948–1965), Vaasa-Umeå AB (1965–1979), Oy Vaasanlaivat – Vasabåtarna Ab (1979–1991) and Wasa Line (1991–1993) are different names for the Finnish shipping company that ceased trading in 1993 wh ...
. The company was founded in 2001 by well known Vaasa-based businessman Rabbe Grönblom, just months after
Silja Line Silja Line is a Finnish shipping company and cruiseferry brand owned and operated by the Estonian shipping company AS Tallink Grupp, for car, cargo and passenger traffic between Finland and Sweden. The former company Silja Oy—today Tallink S ...
had put their traffic on Kvarken / Merenkurkku to an end because of a decision in the EU to stop taxfree sales on travels between member states. RG Line bought Silja's M/S ''Fennia'' and renamed her to M/S ''Casino Express'', the ship was put in traffic on the route Vaasa–Umeå on 16 May 2001. At first RG Line profiled the ship as a ship where you could have fun and party, much like the ferries who trafficked Kvarken in the tax-free times. However, it did not become a success; people did not want to cruise any more. The
blackjack Blackjack (formerly black jack or ''vingt-un'') is a casino banking game. It is the most widely played casino banking game in the world. It uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as " twenty-one ...
and
roulette Roulette (named after the French language, French word meaning "little wheel") is a casino game which was likely developed from the Italy, Italian game Biribi. In the game, a player may choose to place a bet on a single number, various grouping ...
tables they had added to get a
casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...
feeling were removed before a year had passed. The company focused on ordinary travellers and
cargo In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in cas ...
instead. The route over Kvarken was supported financially by the city of Vaasa. The city of Umeå or the county of Västerbotten do not support international connections because of a policy. The county of Västerbotten is responsible for local bus transport, but they don't have a bus line to the Umeå port, the nearest is away. The company filed for
bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...
on 29 November 2011, and the operations are suspended. Despite the bankruptcy, the company is continuing operations until October 2012.


History 2004–2005

On 23 November 2004 RG Line announced that they had bought the ship M/S ''Kahleberg'', which has more capacity for cargo and takes less passengers than ''Casino Express'', which it will replace. It is said that ''Kahleberg'' will be put into traffic between Vaasa and Umeå in May 2005. On 24 November, one day after RG Line informed the public about the purchase of their new ship ''Kahleberg'', bad luck struck the company. ''Casino Express'', with 39 passengers and 27 crew members on board, ran aground just outside the harbour of
Holmsund Holmsund is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality situated in Umeå Municipality, Västerbotten County, Sweden with 5,489 inhabitants in 2010. It is located 18 km south of the city of Umeå and serves as a port for Umeå. Position Holmsund lies ...
near Umeå. At the time of the accident, there were strong south-western winds up to . ''Casino Express'' got some serious damages that had to be repaired; six days after the grounding the ship was pulled from the reef and then towed to a repair
shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...
in
Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...
. On 26 November, RG Line announced that they had chartered M/S ''Alandia'' from
Eckerö Linjen Eckerö Linjen is a Finnish shipping company operating a ferry between Berghamn harbour in Eckerö in the Åland Islands and Grisslehamn in Sweden. The company is owned by the Åland based Rederiaktiebolaget Eckerö. Eckerö Linjen should n ...
to temporarily sail for the company while ''Casino Express'' was being repaired in Estonia. ''Alandia'' is a well-known ship for people in the Kvarken region, as she had been trafficking for
Vasabåtarna Wasaline, previously Oy Vaasa-Umeå Ab (1948–1965), Vaasa-Umeå AB (1965–1979), Oy Vaasanlaivat – Vasabåtarna Ab (1979–1991) and Wasa Line (1991–1993) are different names for the Finnish shipping company that ceased trading in 1993 wh ...
for thirteen years as ''Botnia Express'' before she was sold to Eckerö Linjen. ''Alandia'', which at the time of ''Casino Express'' accident was laid up in
Eckerö Eckerö is a municipality of Åland, an autonomous territory under Finnish sovereignty. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The municipality is unilingually Swedish an ...
, was sent to a repair shipyard in
Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
to fix a broken propeller. After that she would immediately take up the traffic for RG Line. She arrived at Holmsund on 9 December, where she loaded cargo, food et cetera that had been on ''Casino Express''. ''Alandia'' took off to Vaasa that evening; she would make her first regular trip from there the morning after. But the ship did not get far; she ran aground on the same place as ''Casino Express'' did just weeks earlier. ''Alandia'' suffered some damages and could not continue to Vaasa; she was instead sent off to a repair shipyard in
Mariehamn Mariehamn ( , ; ; ) is the capital of Åland, an autonomous territory under Finnish sovereignty. Mariehamn is the seat of the Government and Parliament of Åland, and 40% of the population of Åland live in the city. It is mostly surrounded b ...
and RG Line was once again without a ship. RG Line's new ship ''Kahleberg'' arrived to Vaasa in the last days of January 2005. The plan was to rebuild the ship and not put it into traffic until in May. ''Alandia'' was still being repaired, RG Line did not want to wait for her to get back. Instead they decided to put the unrenovated ''Kahleberg'' into traffic on January 21. On her first trip to Umeå she had a motor breakdown about 10 minutes out of Vaasa and had to set anchor; she eventually made it to Umeå but delayed. ''Kahleberg'' was classed to take no more than 75 passengers; RG Line intended to reclass her after having renovated her. The local newspapers criticized RG Line for putting a ship with such low passenger capacity and low comfort into traffic. For the school's winter holidays, when travelling between Sweden and Finland rises, RG Line had to charter the now repaired ''Alandia'', which have a higher passenger capacity. She was in traffic between Umeå and Vaasa between 26 February and March 9 instead of ''Kahleberg''. On April 23, ''Kahleberg'' was chartered to deliver cargo to
Sundsvall Sundsvall () is a city and the seat of Sundsvall Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden. It has a population of 58,807 as of 2020; more than 95,000 live in the municipal area. It is Sweden's 21st largest city by population. Old town i ...
. At the same time RG Line announced that, starting that summer, they would make one trip a week to Sundsvall. On May 1, ''Casino Express'' returned from the Estonian shipyard and was put back in traffic on her old route. The renovation of ''Kahleberg'' could now finally begin.


Route

RG Line operated one route across the
Gulf of Bothnia The Gulf of Bothnia (; ; ) is divided into the Bothnian Bay and the Bothnian Sea, and it is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea, between Finland's west coast ( East Bothnia) and the northern part of Sweden's east coast ( West Bothnia an ...
. The crossing between
Vaasa Vaasa (; , ), formerly (1855-1917) known as Nikolaistad (; ),Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; ; ; ; ) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Umeå is the largest Urban areas in Sweden, locality in Norrland and the t ...
(
Holmsund Holmsund is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality situated in Umeå Municipality, Västerbotten County, Sweden with 5,489 inhabitants in 2010. It is located 18 km south of the city of Umeå and serves as a port for Umeå. Position Holmsund lies ...
) took 4 hours and 30 minutes.


Fleet

RG Line operated one vessel.


References

{{reflist


External links


- old Official site
Shipping companies of Finland Vaasa Umeå