VESSEL REVIEW | MyStar – LNG-fuelled Baltic Sea shuttle ferry for Estonia’s Tallink Grupp

Estonian shipowner Tallink Grupp has taken delivery of a new Ro-Pax ferry from Rauma Marine Constructions (RMC) of Finland.

Built to Finnish-Swedish Ice Class 1A requirements, MyStar has a gross tonnage of 50,625, a length of 212.4 metres, a beam of 30.6 metres, a draught of seven metres, and space for 2,800 passengers and 208 crewmembers plus up to 1,900 lane metres of assorted freight or the equivalent of 750 cars.

The vessel has 12 decks housing various facilities including 46 passenger cabins in four classes, bars, lounges, a cafe, restaurants, a children's play area, a game room, a kennel, a central lobby, and a shopping area consisting of kiosks of various international retail brands clustered together. The shopping area covers more than 2,500 square metres on two decks and is the largest area of its kind on any vessel currently in operation in the Baltic Sea.

The Scandinavian-inspired interior spaces were furnished by dSign Vertti Kivi and Co, which also provided design work on the interiors of Tallink's earlier ferry Megastar.

Power for the ferry is provided by five MAN 5L51/60DF eight-cylinder, dual-fuel engines that can run on either diesel or LNG. The engines each have a rated output of 9,334 kW and drive two 20MW motors to propel the ferry to a service speed of 27 knots, allowing one-way crossings of the Baltic Sea between Estonia and Finland to be completed in as little as two hours. A shore power connection is also installed.

MyStar entered operational service as a shuttle vessel in December 2022. It has since been sailing on Tallink's Gulf of Finland route between its homeport of Tallinn and the city of Helsinki, completing six departures per day alongside Megastar.

Click here to read other news stories, features, opinion articles, and vessel reviews as part of this month's Passenger Vessel Week.