The Estonian administration launches a tender for the fifth Saaremaa and Hiiumaa ferry

FerryFollowing a tender design in 2022, the Estonian administration has appointed Finnish shipdesign house Deltamarin to work on a new ferry concept for Saaremaa to Hiiumaa service.

The new ship is expected to be ready in 2026 and will add capacity on top of the existing four ferries operated and owned by TS Laevad, the ferry operation subsidiary of the Port of Tallinn group. The fifth ferry will be owned by the administration and rented out to the ferry operator in charge of the public ferry contract.

The new ferry will have capacity for 200 cars and 700 passengers. Estonia has a budget of EUR 40m for this project. Part of the funding will come from the European Modernization Fund. The ship will have a sophisticated propulsion system with several possibilities to power the electric propulsion: diesel generators, an energy storage system (circa 2.1 MWh of batteries), and fuel cell technology.

Dec 15 2023