After a five-week-long journey from China, Viking Line's brand-new cruise ferry has called to the Finnish seaport, where she will get outfitted to start serving the Turku-Åland Islands-Stockholm route as of 1 March 2022.

The GT 63,813 vessel of the 1A Super ice class is 222.6 m long, offering 922 cabins for 2,800 passengers and 1,500 lane metres of cargo capacity.

Like her partner on the route in question, Viking Grace, Viking Glory has dual-fuel engines, making it possible to run on liquefied natural gas (LNG) or bioLNG.

The newbuild also features other solutions to lower her environmental impact, like heat & cold recovery and dynamic ventilation and lighting.

"We are really excited about Viking Glory's arrival. In our experience, a new vessel makes the entire route more attractive and increases passenger volumes. Before the Covid pandemic, we had more than three million passengers annually and now, post-pandemic, we see that there is great pent-up demand for travel. The future looks bright in every way," Erik Söderholm, Managing Director, the Port of Turku, commented.

He furthered, "We serve passengers from all across Finland since people can take the train all the way to the ferry terminal – that is a rarity even in global terms. There is also great potential in international tourism. Passengers from the Far East have been delighted with the day sailings, and being able to see our fantastic archipelago has been a great experience for them."

Jan Hanses, Viking Line's President and CEO, also said, "The Turku route is very important for Viking Line as well as for passenger and cargo service between Finland and Sweden. We are extremely proud that we once again can take a vessel that represents the very latest in new advances to Turku - one that both improves the level of service on the route and reduces the environmental impact. There is great interest in Glory, and sales have gotten off to a really good start."

Photo: Viking Line