Tallink Grupp’s new shuttle vessel MyStar to be christened and launched today in Rauma Shipyard
Tallink says the newest member of its fleet, the most environmentally friendly LNG-powered vessel on the Baltic Sea, MyStar, currently under construction in Rauma Marine Constructions (RMC) shipyard, Finland, will be christened and launched today, on Thursday 12 August 2021 at 13.00 local Finnish time, at a special ceremony held at Rauma shipyard. In keeping with the virus pandemic precautionary measures, the event will take place with a limited number of guests participating at the shipyard, and the rest of the participants able to join the event via live stream online.
The christening ceremony takes place with the participation of the Estonian President Mrs Kersti Kaljulaid as the ship’s godmother. During the christening ceremony, according to custom, the newbuild vessel is officially named MyStar and, immediately after the christening of the vessel, proven seaworthy at a following launching of the vessel whereby the valves to the drydock, where the vessel is built, are ceremonially opened and the sea water is let in the drydock for the first time.
The LNG-powered new shuttle vessel MyStar comes with the latest cutting-edge technology and innovation onboard and will meet all the current emission regulations and will be ready for further implementation of next generation emission reduction technologies.
Together with Tallink’s current flagship Megastar, the two LNG-powered shuttle vessels operating in tandem on the Tallinn-Helsinki route from mid-2022, will form the greenest available connection to-date across the Gulf of Finland between the capital cities of Estonia and Finland.
Commenting on the christening and launching of the newest vessel of the Tallink Grupp’s fleet, Paavo Nõgene, CEO of Tallink Grupp, said:
- “Today, as we come together in Rauma shipyard to celebrate another important milestone in the construction of our newest vessel MyStar – we are happy and grateful that, despite the hard and unpredictable global pandemic health crisis and lingering travel restrictions, we have been able, together with our good cooperation partners, to keep up the good progress with MyStar strategic project. I am happy that today, as we will gather in Rauma for the first time in person since the start of the pandemic, to mark this important milestone not only for Tallink Grupp’s MyStar project - we are also celebrating a more viable, sustainable and eco-friendly future for the entire shipping industry, and a cleaner, better living environment for the whole of Baltic Sea region and its people.”
Jyrki Heinimaa, President and CEO of Rauma Marine Constructions said:
- “We are very pleased that, with strict corona security measures, we were able to celebrate this important milestone together today. We have now taken our joint project forward for over a year, and both Tallink's and RMC's project teams deserve great thanks for the work they have done on the project in challenging conditions. We are excited to now get to a new stage in MyStar’s construction work as the work begins to move from the outside of the vessel to the interior. At the same time, we can slowly begin to look to the next milestone of the most environmentally friendly vessel in the Baltic Sea.”
The next major milestone in the construction process of Tallink’s new shuttle vessel MyStar is the completion of the vessel and delivery to Tallink Grupp by Rauma Shipyard, which is scheduled to take place in the first half of 2022.
Upon its completion and delivery, MyStar will start regular traffic on Tallinn-Helsinki route in 2022.
