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Finnlines’ new ships will start operating in 2023

Construction of the new Superstar vessels began in June 2021 at the China Merchants Jinling shipyard in Weihai. Both ships have already been launched and are floating side by side. On the outside, the ships seem quite finished, but there is still a lot of work to be done in the interior. In this series of posts, we will present the highlights of the building of the new Superstar vessels.

So far, construction of the ships has progressed according to plan. Finnsirius is slightly ahead of Finncanopus and will start its homeward voyage from China to Finland first. According to the schedule, Finnsirius arrives in Finland during the summer and starts operating in the fall. Finncanopus will follow, so that it will also start operating in 2023.

What kind of a Superstar?

Finnlines already operates eight ro-pax vessels. Five of them, Europalink, Finnlady, Finnmaid, Finnstar and Finnswan, belong to the Star class. The new ships, Finnsirius and Finncanopus, are longer, wider, and taller. Superstars’ capacity is greater in terms of number of passengers, number of cars and volumes of cargo – and they are also more environmentally friendly!

The brightest stars in the night sky and the Baltic Sea

Superstars are new, cool, and innovative, so the name Superstar may not even need justification, but there is still a little backstory. The names are inspired by the stars in the night sky, Sirius and Canopus.

Sirius is the brightest star in the starry sky as seen from Earth. It belongs to the constellation Canis Major. The actual brightness of Sirius is twenty times greater than the brightness of the Sun. Sirius is also called the Dog Star. You can probably then guess which animal is the mascot for Finnsirius – and indeed for both Superstars. Maybe you guessed right? We will return to the answer later.

Canopus, on the other hand, is the second brightest star in the sky. Canopus belongs to the constellation Keel. Wait, a keel, like a keel on a ship? Is this a coincidence? You decide! Unfortunately, the Canopus star is not visible in Finland, and to admire its brightness one must travel south, at least to the southern parts of the Mediterranean.

On Finnlines, the prefix for several ships is Finn-, and Finnsirius and Finncanopus are no exception in this regard. So now you have it all: The name of the Superstar class as well as the names of the ships are explained.

Glossary for the world of Finnlines

Ro-pax vessel	Cargo-passenger ships, of which Finnlines has eight in operation (and two under construction)
Ro-ro vessel	A cargo ship where the cargo travels out and in on rubber wheels. The abbreviation comes from the words roll-on, roll-off. Finnlines has thirteen ro-ro ships in operation. Check Finnlines’ entire fleet
Lane metre	Tells the cargo capacity of a roro or ropax vessel. The ship can take on board the number of wheeled cargo and vehicles indicated in meters.
Star Class	Finnlines’ ropax ships built in 2006–2007, which can carry 554 passengers and 4215 lane meters worth of cargo and cars
Superstar Class	Finnlines’ ropax ships with capacity of 1100 passengers and 5200 lane meters. Will be completed in 2023. The Superstars are called Finnsirius and Finncanopus.