MS ''Silja Symphony'' is a

cruiseferry A cruiseferry is a ship that combines the features of a cruise ship and a Ro-Pax ferry. Many passengers travel with the ships for the cruise experience, staying only a few hours at the destination port or not leaving the ship at all, while ot ...

owned by the

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 ...

n shipping company Tallink Group, operated under their

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 ...

brand on a route connecting

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, Finland to

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 ...

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 ...

via

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 ...

. She was built in 1991 at Masa-Yards Turku New Shipyard,

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, ...

History

While the ''Silja Symphony'' was being built, the Wärtsilä Marine shipyard went bankrupt, and as a result she was delivered several months behind schedule on 30 May 1991. On 1 June she was put on the route

–

. The new ships, the first ones to have a centerline promenade inside the ship, were highly popular but also proved to be somewhat expensive to operate. Unlike her sister, , the ''Symphony's'' funnel was constructed of

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

, which made the ship less heavy. ''Silja Symphony'' was also the third ship to arrive at the scene of the disaster on 28 September 1994. On 7 February 1996, the ship was grounded in the Stockholm archipelago. In December of the same year her engines were upgraded with so-called water-spray technology that greatly reduced nitrogen oxide emissions. In order to keep tax free sales on the

–

ships when the EU changed its tax free legislation, a stop at

was added to the route in June 1999. On 6 August 2001, a swarm of fish got sucked into the ship's cooling water intakes, which resulted in the engines shutting down due to overheating. Due to the engine problem the ship arrived in Helsinki some 1½ hours late. In January 2004 the ship made two special cruises to

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

for the Finnish company SOK. Similar cruises were made again in January 2005. In January–February 2006, just prior to the sale of Silja Line to

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

, the ''Symphony'' and her sister had their interiors extensively rebuilt at Turku Repair Yard,

Naantali Naantali (; ) is a municipalities of Finland, town in Southwest Finland, and, as a resort town during the summer, an important centre of tourism in the country. The municipality has a population of (), and is located west of Turku. The town h ...

. During a storm on 9 January 2007 the ''Symphony'' accidentally rammed a boarding tube in the port of Mariehamn, resulting in approximately €600,000 worth of damage. There are some small external differences by which the ''Symphony'' can be told apart from her sister: the outer decks on the ''Symphony'' are painted light blue (they are green on the ''Serenade''), the eyes of the seal in ''Symphony''s funnel are blue whereas they are white with a blue outline on the ''Serenade'', and the light box with the ship's name on it is white on the ''Symphony'', but blue on the ''Serenade''. Silja Symphony reportedly started using official electronic logbooks in June 2023.

References

External links

Tallink Silja

Valkeat Laivat

''Silja Symphony'' Video Clips

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silja Symphony Ferries of Finland Ferries of Sweden Cruiseferries Ships built in Turku 1990 ships

History

See also

References

External links