MV Finnbirch
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| Career | |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | 1978 |
| Laid down: | ? |
| Launched: | ? |
| Delivered: | ? |
| Fate: | Shipwrecked in the Baltic Sea on November 1, 2006 |
| General Characteristics[1] | |
| Call sign: | SLNK |
| Home port: | Stockholm |
| Displacement: | ? tons (? metric tons) |
| Length: | 156 m (511.8 ft) |
| Beam: | 22.70 m (74.5 ft) |
| Draft: | 7.30 m (24 ft) |
| Speed: | 17 knots (30 km/h) |
| Complement: | 14 crew |
| Cargo Capacity: | ? |
MV Finnbirch was a Swedish ro-ro ship built in 1978 as M/S Stena Prosper. On November 1, 2006, the ship sank on the east coast of Sweden. At the time of the shipwreck, Finnbirch had a crew of 14, consisting of four Swedes and ten Filipinos. The ship capsized in a heavy storm which also set an oil rig adrift. The 13 of the crew were found sitting on the hull and were evacuated by helicopter. One of the Filipino crewmembers died in hospital and one Swede is missing and presumed dead.
The ship was built at Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea and delivered to its owner Stena RoRo on February 2, 1978. In 1988 the ship was sold to Finnish Rettig, and in 1995 to Bore Line. In 1999, Strömma Turism & Sjöfart in Stockholm acquired the ship and kept it until it foundered. Lindholm Shipping, Strömma Turism & Sjöfart AB was the last owner of MV Finnbirch and its sister ship MV Finnforest. Both vessels were in timecharter for the Finnish company Finnlines Plc at the time of the sinking.[2]
[edit] References
- Nordic storms sink Swedish ship (BBC News)
- DN Nyheter: Sju räddade från kapsejsat fartyg (Swedish)
- Fartygets historia (Swedish)
- Swedish freighter sinks in storm (CNN)
