”The tramlines push us to our limit, but luckily there is enough work”
The vessel makes 4 journeys a day between Helsinki and Tallinn. The sea journey between Helsinki and Tallinn takes about three-and-half hours. Everyone who sails the short routes in the Baltic Sea for their living knows the challenges of the “tramlines”: a lot of time is spent on deck. In addition the ropax-ship Translandia is loaded and unloaded eight times during a twenty-four hour period.
Precise loading
The day’s first load of trucks and trailers are unloaded after 10 o’clock in the morning in Vuosaari. The frost is whipping the faces and light snow flakes are falling from the sky.
The Translandia is able to take about 60-65 trucks at any one time and they are met on the deck by a boatswain, an able-bodied seaman and three ordinary seamen.
The deck-workers gesticulate instructionsto the truck-drivers about where to drive. The hold is tight and cramped and the size of the vehicles has grown since the vessel was built in 1976. The deck-workers instruct one truck driver at a time. When there is no common language then the only way to communicate is to use an “international” one.
The transportation sector is a tight professional community
The Translandia has a total of 96 beds. In Helsinki 45 passengers get on the ship. The day-time departure is more peaceful than the evening departure in Tallinn, when the ship is often crammed full. The task of the ship’s hostess Reet Bridon and catering assistant Karin Kerkelin is to welcome the drivers onboard.
The majority of the passengers on the vessel are truck-drivers, who come from many different countries.
”Many of the drivers travelling on our ship are known to us. We can direct them to the correct cabins and we know with whom they want e.g. to travel with if somebody happens to perhaps snore”, Karin and Reet say laughingly.
The language immersion is a challenge but it also teaches
About 40 per cent of the personnel of the Translandia are Estonian. However, in addition to this there are a few people who speak Swedish as their first language, which is actually the official language of the vessel. The ship’s crew openly discusses the language matters which arise on the ship. Nobody denies that the “mixed soup” of three languages sometimes causes challenges, but everything is got through and with the language immersion new things are learnt.
”It can be said that I learnt Finnish after starting work and here I now speak it” thinks Karin.
Karin has worked on the Translandia for five years and Reet for eight years. The women’s trump card is their ability to speak Russian, which is a language many of those coming from Eastern Europe speak.
Provisions in triplicate
Food is prepared in the galley for both the crew and the passengers. The cook-steward and chef work in the galley. The catering assistant and the ship’s hostess also help with the work.
”About 150 passengers a day travel on the vessel. In numbers it is not a lot, but one must say that one truck-driver eats up the provisions of three normal men”, says Chef Vesa Nyman and Cook-steward Kari Kiuru, with a wink in their eyes.
The galley is bustling from early in the morning to late at night. The galley group has nothing to complain about concerning the working hours or the working space. Even though the vessel is old, the galley area works well.
”Only the ship’s cold storage area could however, be a little bigger.”
Celebration year 2011
”This year the Translandia completes 10 years sailing under a Finnish flag”, say Kari Hulkko, who has given himself the title of electric actor.
Hulkko, who is therefore responsible for the vessels electrical installations, was fetching the vessel from Europe when it was brought under a Finnish flag in 2001, when Rederi Ab Engship bought the vessel. In 2004, the Eckerö shipping company bought the vessel.
”Oh, dam, now the engine has got a little too much power”. Hulkko turns the power down when the Translandia leaves Tallinn and heads back towards Finland.
An old vessel has its own tricks. Henrik Söderholm the vessel’s new chief engineerfollows the incident from the sidelines.
”In the past I used to sail on the seas and in between I worked for Wärtsilä on land and around the world, the last place being the Caribbean.”
Söderholm is a good example of someone who has once acquired know-how about engines and never loses it. The Translandia is in a rush to get new skilled workers because Fålke Karlström the engineer has only a few voyages left.
”The last turn has almost started”, he says with a smile.
28 hours under the pressure of ice
Evening has turned to night as the Translandia sails towards Finland. The ice clatters against the bulwark of the vessel until it reaches the open waters. Otto Vuorinen the first mate and able-bodied seaman Neeme Laid who is manning the watch, tell that they are waiting with “interest” to see what will be the ice situation will be during the rest of the winter. The engines are always put to the most intense tests when driving through ice.
”One time last year there was ice slush of about six metres thickness. We had to wait for 28 hours under ice pressure until help arrived.”
However, sometimes, surprisingly the ice can be also useful: ” Organisms and other types of dirt are cleaned from the bottom of the vessel as the ice scrapes it. In this way the vessel is cleaned for free and the ship can move faster.”
Text and photos: Saana Lamminsivu
