page_title: Tallink
section_title: 2000–2006
hierarchical_section_title: Tallink / History / 2000–2006
caption_attribution_description: English: Tallink's brand-new cruiseferry MS Baltic Queen in Tallinn prior to entering service. Suomi: Tallinkin upouusi risteilylautta M/S Baltic Queen Tallinnassa ennen aluksen asettamista liikenteeseen.
context_page_description: Tallink is an Estonian shipping company operating Baltic Sea cruiseferries and ropax ships from Estonia to Finland, Estonia to Sweden, Latvia to Sweden and Finland to Sweden. It is the largest passenger and cargo shipping company in the Baltic Sea region. It owns Silja Line and a part of SeaRail. Tallink Hotels runs four hotels in Tallinn and one in Riga. It is also the co-owner of a taxi company Tallink Takso.
  It is a publicly traded company, that is listed in Tallinn Stock Exchange. A major shareholder is an investment company AS Infortar, that also has ownership in several Tallink subsidiaries and a natural gas company Eesti Gaas.
context_section_description: By the year 2000 ESCO had become the sole owner of EstLine, and in December 2000 EstLine's two ferries MS Regina Baltica and MS Baltic Kristina were chartered to Hansatee, and the line between Tallinn and Stockholm began to be marketed as a part of Tallink. A few months earlier, in August 2000, Hansatee had ordered their first newbuild the 2500-passenger cruiseferry MS Romantika from the Finnish Aker Finnyards. This was the first ship in a new building programme that between 2001 and 2010 cost €1.2 billion.  In June 2001 Tallink purchased HSC Tallink AutoExpress 2, while next month EstLine was declared bankrupt.
  In 2002 AS Hansatee changed its name to AS Tallink Grupp, and in May of the same year the company took delivery of the MS Romantika, which was placed on Helsinki–Tallinn traffic. In November of the same year the classic Georg Ots was sold to the government of Russia. In 2004 three news ships joined Tallink's fleet, HSC Tallink AutoExpress 3 and HSC Tallink AutoExpress 4 alongside the Romantika's sister MS Victoria I which was placed on Tallinn–Stockholm route, replacing MS Fantaasia which in turn started a new route from Helsinki to St. Petersburg via Tallinn. This route proved unprofitable and was terminated in January 2005. Later in 2005 Tallink ordered a sister ship of the to-be delivered MS Galaxy and a fast ropax ferry from Aker Finnyards as well as another ropax ferry from the Fincantieri yard in Italy. On December 9, 2005, Tallink was listed at Tallinn Stock Exchange.
caption: MS Baltic Queen in dock in Tallinn.
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