Tallink’s Next LNG Fast Ferry: Megastar
Tallink’s new LNG fast ferry scheduled to be delivered in 2017 will be named Megastar. The name was chosen among 21,550 name proposals submitted to the public name contest.
According to the Chairman of the Board of AS Tallink Grupp, Janek Stalmeister, the name enables the operator to maintain unity among the names in the Tallink Shuttle fast ferry family.“As Megastar will be among the largest of her kind in the world, this name expresses perfectly the characteristics of the ship. It is also easy to pronounce in Estonian, Finnish and other languages. As there were so numerous entries with that name, we also see it as the wish of many of our passengers,” Stalmeister said.
The first one to enter the name Megastar into the competition was Janar from Estonia, who will receive two tickets for the ship’s very first official trip. Altogether, more than 300 entries with the name Megastar were registered in the contest, making it one of the most popular names suggested. Altogether there were 14,200 entries from Finland, 5,300 entries from Estonia and 2,050 entries through the international website.
The production of the new €230 million LNG powered fast ferry started in Meyer Turku Yard in Finland on August 4, 2015. Megastar’s keel will be laid in Meyer Turku Yard on February 9, 2016, which starts the constructions of the ship in dry-dock.
Megastar will be 212 meters long, can accommodate 2,800 passengers and will start operating on Tallinn-Helsinki route.
The new environmentally friendly ship uses LNG as fuel, enabling her to comply with the new and stricter emission regulations for the ECA areas including the Baltic Sea. The ship, with a gross tonnage of 49,000 and service speed of 27 knots, will bring significant improvement in energy efficiency. The innovative hull form minimizes the flow resistance and ensures that the ship operates well in ice conditions. Efficient and fast cargo turnaround in ports has been taken into account in the design of the new generation fast ferry.
