page_title: Finnlines
section_title: 1987–2002
hierarchical_section_title: Finnlines / History / 1987–2002
caption_attribution_description: English: M/S Finnhansa, unidentified ship (probably M/S Finnforest or M/S Finnbirch), M/S Finnpartner and M/S Transeuropa in Helsinki during a dockworker's strike, November 2004. Suomi: M/S Finnhansa, tunnistamaton alus (todennäköisesti M/S Finnforest tai M/S Finnbirch), M/S Finnpartner ja M/S Transeuropa Helsingissä marraskuussa 2004.
context_page_description: Finnlines Plc is a shipping operator of ro-ro and passenger services in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. The Company is a part of the Grimaldi Group. Finnlines’ sea transports are concentrated in the Baltic and the North Sea. Finnlines’ passenger-freight vessels offer services from Finland to Germany and via the Åland Islands to Sweden as well as from Sweden to Germany. The Company has subsidiaries or sales offices in Germany, Belgium, Great Britain, Sweden, Denmark and Poland. In addition to sea transportation, the Company provides port services in Finland in Helsinki and Turku.
  Finnlines’ ro-ro services cover the Finnish ports of Rauma, Uusikaupunki, Turku, Helsinki and Kotka, offering connections with Russian, Estonian, Polish, German, Danish, British, Dutch, Belgian and Spanish ports.
  HansaLink consists of three Star-class ro-pax vessels plying between Helsinki and Travemünde. For passengers it is the only direct connection by sea between Finland and Continental Europe.
  NordöLink runs a ro-pax service between Malmö, Sweden and Travemünde, Germany. FinnLink operates between Naantali, Finland and Kapellskär, Sweden.
context_section_description: A full turn-around in Effoa's operations took place in 1989 when the company decided to separate their freight-carrying operations from their passenger operations. In place of dividends, shares of Finncarriers were given to stock owners, and after several mergers, diffusions, and name-changes, a new Finnlines Group was born in 1990. In the following years Finnlines acquired Bore Line, the operations of which were incorporated into Finnlines in 1992. Around the same time Finnlines started collaboration with the German shipping company Poseidon Schiffahrt AG on Helsinki–Travemünde traffic, which was marketed under the name Finncarriers-Poseidon. During 1994 and 1995 four new combi-roro ships (known as the Hansa class), capable of carrying 114 passengers alongside their freight capacity, were delivered for Finncarriers-Poseidon traffic.
  In 1997 Finnlines made a deal with the German Stinnes AG, essentially swapping the shared Finnlines ownership of the German company BLT with the full ownership of Poseidon Schiffahrt AG. As a result, the company name "Poseidon" disappeared from the sides of Finland-Germany ships and Poseidon became Finnlines Deutschland AG. With Poseidon, the trainferry operator Railship and 40% of Team Lines also passed into Finnlines' ownership. In the same year Finnlines also became the sole owner of Finnlink. In 1999 Finnlines took delivery of two new ro-pax vessels, MS Finnclipper and MS Finneagle, both with a passenger capacity of over 400. In 2001 Finncarriers was merged into the parent company. In the same year Finnlines purchased the rest of Team Lines, and in 2002 the Swedish Nordö-Link (trafficking between Malmö and Travemünde) also became a Finnlines subsidiary.
caption: Finnlines ships in Helsinki in late 2004
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