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.

MYSTAR fact box

• Built in Rauma Marine Constructions (RMC), Finland, year of completion 2022
• 2800 passengers
• Passenger cabins: 46
• Decks: 12
• Lane meters: 3190 lm on 4 car decks
• Length - 212m
• Width - 30.6m
• Gross tonnage – 50,000
• Max speed 27 knots
• Ice class: 1A
• Main engines output: 42,000 kW
• Reference vessel: Tallink shuttle vessel MEGASTAR

The construction of Tallink Grupp’s vessel MYSTAR begun in Rauma shipyard (RMC), Finland last year, on 6 April 2020, and it is the largest vessel built in the RMC shipyard to date.

The first major milestone in the process of MYSTAR construction – keel laying – took place last year in September 2020, when the first keel-block was laid into Rauma shipyard’s dry dock.

In the autumn of 2020, LNG-tanks, main engines and electric motors were delivered and installed on MYSTAR. In April 2021, or exactly one year after start of the construction, all the blocks of the ship’s hull were installed, and the underwater part of the ship’s hull was complete – in other words – the vessel reached its complete length – 212 metres. In the dry dock at RMC shipyard, currently, the construction of the rest of the ship’s hull that is above water is in full swing until the completion of the vessel’s hull.

The vessel is christened on 12 August 2021 in the dry dock and according to Tallink’s tradition, immediately after the christening the ship is floated in the dry dock – the launching takes place.

Following the launching, the construction works of MYSTAR will continue the interior of the vessel. The ship’s interior design is created by the Finnish renown architecture firm dSign Vertti Kivi & Co.  

Traditionally, the vessel receives her name during christening. It is believed, based on the old shipbuilding customs that the blessing and launching of the vessel bears great significance in securing the longevity and good fortune to the new vessel.  In the ancient times, during the blessing of the vessel, the gods were offered sacrifices to secure their favour. The distant memory of this custom lives on today, symbolised in the contemporary custom to smash a bottle of champagne against the stern of the ship during christening event. A good fortune is believed to be granted to the vessel, when the bottle is smashed already with the first swing against the ship’s stern.  Tallink’s ships are traditionally christened with  Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Réserve as christening champagne.

MYSTAR render © RMC