Rauma Marine Constructions (RMC) is a Finnish

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roo ...

company based in

Rauma, Finland Rauma (; sv, Raumo) is a town and municipality of around () inhabitants on the west coast of Finland, north of Turku, and south of Pori. Its neighbouring municipalities are Eura, Eurajoki, Laitila and Pyhäranta. Granted town privileges on ...

. The company's main products are car ferries,

icebreaker An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to sma ...

s and

naval vessel A naval ship is a military ship (or sometimes boat, depending on classification) used by a navy. Naval ships are differentiated from civilian ships by construction and purpose. Generally, naval ships are damage resilient and armed with w ...

History

Rauma Marine Constructions was established by private investors with background in the Finnish shipbuilding industry shortly after

STX Finland STX Finland Oy, formerly Aker Yards Oy, was a Finnish shipbuilding company operating three shipyards in Finland, in Turku, Helsinki and Rauma, employing some 2,500 people. It was part of STX Europe, a group of international shipbuilding compan ...

closed the Rauma shipyard in 2014. In December 2015, the company received a major equity investment when the state-owned investment company Finnish Industry Investment became a minor shareholder together with Finnish investment funds managed by Finda and Taaleritehdas. An existing minor shareholder Kasvattajarahasto, an investment fund managed by Aboa Venture Management, also increased its share on the company.

Orders

Ferries

In June 2016, Rauma Marine Constructions and the Danish shipping company Molslinjen signed a 68 million euro contract for the construction of

roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, Trailer (vehicle), trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their o ...

ferry for the

Bornholm Bornholm () is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea, to the east of the rest of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and north of Poland. Strategically located, Bornholm has been fought over for centuries. It has usually been ruled by ...

route. This was the first newbuilding contract awarded to Rauma after STX Finland announced the closure of the shipyard in 2013 and delivered the Finnish offshore patrol vessel '' Turva'' in 2014. The new ferry, ''Hammershus'', was laid down on 4 August 2017, launched on 5 January 2018, and delivered in August 2018. In October 2018, Rauma Marine Constructions and the Estonian ferry operator

Tallink Tallink () is an Estonian shipping company operating Baltic Sea cruiseferries and ropax ships from Estonia to Finland, Estonia to Sweden to Sweden and Finland to Sweden. It is the largest passenger and cargo shipping company in the Baltic Sea ...

signed a

letter of intent A letter of intent (LOI or LoI, or Letter of Intent) is a document outlining the understanding between two or more parties which they intend to formalize in a legally binding agreement. The concept is similar to a heads of agreement, term sh ...

for the construction of an LNG-powered ferry with a capacity of 2,800 passengers for the Helsinki-Tallinn route.Aiesopimus: Tallink tilaa uuden pikalaivan Rauman telakalta
Yle, 18 October 2018. The 250 million euro shipbuilding contract was confirmed in March 2019. The vessel, named '' MyStar'', was initially scheduled to be delivered in early 2022. The steel cutting ceremony was held on 6 April 2020, the keel was laid on 18 September, and the vessel was launched on 12 August 2021. The delivery of the new ferry was delayed to 7 December 2022 and it began its maiden voyage from Tallinn on 13 December. In early January 2019, another letter of intent was signed for a 120 million euro LNG-powered ferry for the

Vaasa Vaasa (; sv, Vasa, , Sweden ), in the years 1855–1917 as Nikolainkaupunki ( sv, Nikolajstad; literally meaning "city of Nicholas),

Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; South Westrobothnian: ;). fi, Uumaja; sju, Ubmeje; sma, Upmeje; se, Ubmi) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, U ...

route.Kvarken Link signs LoI with RMC for EUR 120 million hybrid gas-powered ro-pax
Shippax, 11 January 2019. The shipbuilding contract was signed on 21 January 2019 and the ice class 1A Super ferry would be delivered by May 2021. The vessel, named '' Aurora Botnia'', was laid down on 13 February 2020 and launched on 11 September. The vessel's official christening and delivery ceremony was held in Vaasa immediately after sea trials on 25 August 2021. In February 2020, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Rauma Marine Constructions and TT-Line for the construction of two new ferries for

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. The construction of the 1,800-passenger ferries was expected to begin in early 2021. In July 2020, TT-Line advised this deal would not proceed due to the current and emerging economic problems caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

; instead, the possibility of building the ferries locally in Australia was evaluated. However, in April 2021 TT-Line nonetheless signed a shipbuilding contract with Rauma Marine Constructions for two ferries with deliveries in late 2023 and late 2024. The construction of the first ferry, ''

Spirit of Tasmania IV ''Spirit of Tasmania IV'' is a roll-on/roll-off ferry, under construction by Rauma Marine Constructions at its shipyards in Rauma, Finland. It is to be operated by Spirit of Tasmania in Australia on the Bass Strait ferry route between Geelo ...

'', began in February 2022 and the keel was laid on 28 October 2022. The construction of the second ferry, ''

Spirit of Tasmania V ''Spirit of Tasmania V'' is a roll-on/roll-off ferry, under construction by Rauma Marine Constructions at its shipyards in Rauma, Finland. It is to be operated by Spirit of Tasmania in Australia on the Bass Strait ferry route between Geelong ...

'', began in December 2022.

Naval vessels

In September 2016, the

Finnish Defense Forces The Finnish Defence Forces ( fi, Puolustusvoimat, sv, Försvarsmakten) are the military of Finland. The Finnish Defence Forces consist of the Finnish Army, the Finnish Navy and the Finnish Air Force. In wartime the Finnish Border Guard (w ...

Logistics Command signed a

with Rauma Marine Constructions in order to investigate the company's capability for building four multi-role corvettes for the

Finnish Navy The Finnish Navy ( fi, Merivoimat, sv, Marinen) is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. The navy employs 2,300 people and about 4,300 conscripts are trained each year. Finnish Navy vessels are given the ship prefix "FNS", short f ...

's Squadron 2020 fleet renewal program. In April 2017, this was followed by a 7.5 million euro design contract for the new Finnish

surface combatant Surface combatants (or surface ships or surface vessels) are a subset of naval warships which are designed for warfare on the surface of the water, with their own weapons and armed forces. They are generally ships built to fight other ships, subma ...

class that will replace three

minelayer A minelayer is any warship, submarine or military aircraft deploying explosive mines. Since World War I the term "minelayer" refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines. "Mine planting" was the term for installing contro ...

s and four

missile boat A missile boat or missile cutter is a small, fast warship armed with anti-ship missiles. Being smaller than other warships such as destroyers and frigates, missile boats are popular with nations interested in forming a navy at lower cost. They ...

s. A

for the construction contract was signed in the beginning of November 2018 and the final 647.6 million euro shipbuilding contract on 26 September 2019. The construction of the four-strong ''Pohjanmaa'' class will be staggered over 2022–2025 and full operational status is achieved in 2028.

Other

Prior to major newbuilding orders, Rauma Marine Constructions completed a number of smaller construction and conversion projects to establish a subcontractor network and build the shipyard's capability for larger projects. These have included the construction of a floating entertainment center to the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at ...

, conversion of the Finnish icebreaker ''Otso'', and a facelift for the cruiseferries '' Silja Serenade'' and '' Silja Symphony''. In May 2017, the shipyard was awarded the 13.7 million euro refitting of the Finnish research vessel ''Aranda''. Merentutkimusalus Aranda pitkään telakalla – peruskorjaus tehdään Raumalla
Länsi-Suomi, 24 July 2017.

List of ships built or on order

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://rmcfinland.fi Shipbuilding companies of Finland Shipbuilding companies