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Viking Line
Viking Line Abp is an Åland-based shipping company that operates a fleet of ferries and cruiseferries between Åland, mainland Finland, Sweden and Estonia. The company is headquartered in Mariehamn, Åland, and Viking Line shares are quoted on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. Viking Line currently operates five ferries, of which four serve routes to Stockholm and one operates to Tallinn.
The activities of Viking Line include route trips, cruises and cargo traffic. In 2025, Viking Line employed an average of 2,441 people both on land and on sea.
Viking Line's history dates back to 1959, when a group of maritime professionals and businessmen from the Åland Islands founded Rederi Ab Vikinglinjen. The company purchased the steam-powered car ferry SS Dinard from the United Kingdom, renamed her SS Viking, and began service on the Korpo (Finland)–Mariehamn (Åland)–Gräddö (Sweden) route. That same year, the Gotland-based Rederi AB Slite launched a competing service between Simpnäs (Sweden) and Mariehamn.
In 1962, internal disagreements led a group of shareholders to leave Rederi Ab Vikinglinjen and establish Rederi Ab Ålandsfärjan, which began operating a Gräddö–Mariehamn route the following year.
As competition intensified, the three companies realized that continued rivalry would be unsustainable. In 1965, Vikinglinjen and Slite began cooperating, and in late July 1966 Viking Line was established as a joint marketing company for all three operators. To avoid confusion with the new brand, Rederi Ab Vikinglinjen changed its name to Rederi Ab Solstad. The red hull livery was adopted from Slite's Ålandspilen service (to which it had been taken from the colour of the chairman's wife's lipstick!). In 1967 Rederi Ab Ålandsfärjan changed its name to SF Line and in 1977 Rederi Ab Solstad was merged into its mother company Rederi Ab Sally.
During this period, Viking Line functioned solely as a marketing company. Each owner retained control of its own fleet and routes, although schedules were coordinated. The ships were easily distinguished by naming conventions: Sally vessels carried the prefix Viking, Slite ships were named after figures from Roman and Greek mythology, and SF Line vessels ended with the suffix -ella, honoring managing director Gunnar Eklund's wife, Ellen.
During the 1970s Viking expanded greatly and overtook Silja Line as the largest shipping consortium on the Northern Baltic Sea.[citation needed] Between 1970 and 1973 Slite and Sally took delivery of five nearly identical ships built at Meyer Werft Germany, namely MS Apollo and MS Diana for Slite, and MS Viking 1, MS Viking 3 and MS Viking 4 for Sally. MS Viking 5, delivered in 1974, was an enlarged version of the same design. These so-called Papenburg sisters can be considered to be one of the most successful ships designs of all times[citation needed] (the shipyard built three additional sisters of the original design for Transbordadores for ship services in Mexico: Coromuel, Puerto Vallarta and Azteca). In 1973 Viking Line started service on the Turku–Mariehamn–Stockholm route, directly competing with Silja Line for the first time. The next year Sally began Viking Line traffic between Helsinki and Stockholm. For the next decade this route stayed in their hands, whereas on other routes the three companies operated together.
By the latter half of the 1970s, Sally was clearly the dominant partner in the consortium. In 1980 they took delivery of three new ferries (MS Viking Saga, MS Viking Sally and MS Viking Song), largest to have sailed under Viking's colours. This further established their dominance over the other partners, although SF Line did take delivery of the new MS Turella and MS Rosella in 1979–80 and Slite MS Diana II in 1979. In the early 1980s Sally started expanding their operations to other waters, which became the company's failing as those operations were largely unprofitable and ultimately made Sally unable to invest on new tonnage for Viking Line service.
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Viking Line
Viking Line Abp is an Åland-based shipping company that operates a fleet of ferries and cruiseferries between Åland, mainland Finland, Sweden and Estonia. The company is headquartered in Mariehamn, Åland, and Viking Line shares are quoted on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. Viking Line currently operates five ferries, of which four serve routes to Stockholm and one operates to Tallinn.
The activities of Viking Line include route trips, cruises and cargo traffic. In 2025, Viking Line employed an average of 2,441 people both on land and on sea.
Viking Line's history dates back to 1959, when a group of maritime professionals and businessmen from the Åland Islands founded Rederi Ab Vikinglinjen. The company purchased the steam-powered car ferry SS Dinard from the United Kingdom, renamed her SS Viking, and began service on the Korpo (Finland)–Mariehamn (Åland)–Gräddö (Sweden) route. That same year, the Gotland-based Rederi AB Slite launched a competing service between Simpnäs (Sweden) and Mariehamn.
In 1962, internal disagreements led a group of shareholders to leave Rederi Ab Vikinglinjen and establish Rederi Ab Ålandsfärjan, which began operating a Gräddö–Mariehamn route the following year.
As competition intensified, the three companies realized that continued rivalry would be unsustainable. In 1965, Vikinglinjen and Slite began cooperating, and in late July 1966 Viking Line was established as a joint marketing company for all three operators. To avoid confusion with the new brand, Rederi Ab Vikinglinjen changed its name to Rederi Ab Solstad. The red hull livery was adopted from Slite's Ålandspilen service (to which it had been taken from the colour of the chairman's wife's lipstick!). In 1967 Rederi Ab Ålandsfärjan changed its name to SF Line and in 1977 Rederi Ab Solstad was merged into its mother company Rederi Ab Sally.
During this period, Viking Line functioned solely as a marketing company. Each owner retained control of its own fleet and routes, although schedules were coordinated. The ships were easily distinguished by naming conventions: Sally vessels carried the prefix Viking, Slite ships were named after figures from Roman and Greek mythology, and SF Line vessels ended with the suffix -ella, honoring managing director Gunnar Eklund's wife, Ellen.
During the 1970s Viking expanded greatly and overtook Silja Line as the largest shipping consortium on the Northern Baltic Sea.[citation needed] Between 1970 and 1973 Slite and Sally took delivery of five nearly identical ships built at Meyer Werft Germany, namely MS Apollo and MS Diana for Slite, and MS Viking 1, MS Viking 3 and MS Viking 4 for Sally. MS Viking 5, delivered in 1974, was an enlarged version of the same design. These so-called Papenburg sisters can be considered to be one of the most successful ships designs of all times[citation needed] (the shipyard built three additional sisters of the original design for Transbordadores for ship services in Mexico: Coromuel, Puerto Vallarta and Azteca). In 1973 Viking Line started service on the Turku–Mariehamn–Stockholm route, directly competing with Silja Line for the first time. The next year Sally began Viking Line traffic between Helsinki and Stockholm. For the next decade this route stayed in their hands, whereas on other routes the three companies operated together.
By the latter half of the 1970s, Sally was clearly the dominant partner in the consortium. In 1980 they took delivery of three new ferries (MS Viking Saga, MS Viking Sally and MS Viking Song), largest to have sailed under Viking's colours. This further established their dominance over the other partners, although SF Line did take delivery of the new MS Turella and MS Rosella in 1979–80 and Slite MS Diana II in 1979. In the early 1980s Sally started expanding their operations to other waters, which became the company's failing as those operations were largely unprofitable and ultimately made Sally unable to invest on new tonnage for Viking Line service.
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