Experiments with small high speed ferries on the Gotland service had been carried out already in the 1960s and 70s. However, it was not until 1988 that the first fast ferry entered regular service., namely Gotlandslinjen’s Vindile. By 1998, Gotlandsbolaget had returned to the Gotland service, and then introduced the first steel-built high speed craft. HSC Gotland was also the starting point of an extensive modernization of the entire service.
The French pirate
This ship is at the absolute forefront of ship development. It has attracted a lot of international attention and it is of course satisfying for us to be able to offer the traffic to Gotland the very best.
The words above were spoken by Jan-Eric Nilsson, then CEO of Gotlandsbolaget, in connection with HSC Gotland’s delivery trip to Visby. The high-speed ferry Gotland was delivered in early 1999 by Alstom Leroux Naval in Lorient, on the Bay of Biscay. The ship had been developed in close cooperation between the shipyard and Gotlandsbolaget, and the project resulted in a 112 m long vessel, with a steel hull to enable it to operate in ice, but nevertheless with a top speed of 35 knots. The journey between Visby and Nynäshamn could thus be completed in half the time compared to the traditional ferries Visby and Thjelvar.
HSC Gotland was called ‘Corsaire 11500’ by the shipyard. Ships of the Corsaire type – the name also means pirate – have been built in several different designs at the French shipyard, and Gotland’s closest sister ship was the Greek NEL Lines ship Aeolos Express, which, however, has been laid up for many years.
Gotland was thus designed to operate in ice and became the first high speed ferry with year-round capacity. At the time of HSC Gotland’s delivery, however, the contract with the state only covered high speed traffic during the summer months, but the ambition of Gotlandsbolaget was already now to introduce fast crossings all year round in the near future. As is well known, this would also be realized a few years later.
Gotland was equipped with four Ruston 20 RK 270 high-speed engines with a total power of 28,000 kW. Three MTU 12V 183 TE52s of 450 kW each were chosen as auxiliary machinery for the power supply. Gotland was equipped with Siemens catalytic converters for all engines on board, which was now a condition of the new contract with the government. The water jet units were supplied by Kamewa, and Gotland was equipped with stabilizers. At high speed, the water jet nozzles were fixed and two vertical fins, each with an area of 3.5 square meters, were used both as rudders and for course stability. In addition, there were two flaps of 12 square meters each to reduce swaying.
HSC Gotland was designed to carry 700 passengers and 140 cars. The rear part of the main deck was strengthened to be able to also carry eight buses.
Suspicion of bribery
With reference to our telephone call of 22/4/97, we hereby confirm that a shipping company discount of SEK 500 000 will be paid to Rederi AB Gotland in the event that KaMeWa’s Water Jet equipment (…) will be ordered by Alstom Leroux Naval for the project in question. Payment of the discount will be made immediately after full payment has been received from the shipyard.
However, the shipping company discount never benefited Rederi AB Gotland. Instead, it ended up in a Swiss account belonging to the company’s technical director. During a regular audit at the water jet manufacturer KaMeWa, the anomalous payment was noticed, and this was the starting point for the discovery of one of Sweden’s largest investigations into bribery.
When Gotlandsbolaget ordered HSC Gotland from Alstom Leroux Naval in March 1997, a list of potential suppliers of all equipment for the ship was drawn up. The yard, in turn, signed contracts with subcontractors acceptable to Gotlandsbolaget, including KaMeWa. In May 2000, KaMeWa paid half a million Swedish crowns as a “discount” linked to the delivery of the waterjets to HSC Gotland.
During the aforementioned audit at KaMeWa, the tax authorities quickly realized that the technical director had not included the income as income in his tax return, so they demanded additional tax. However, the size of the amount warranted further investigation and a preliminary criminal investigation was initiated. According to the investigation, almost SEK 10 million had been paid out by the Finnish engine manufacturer Wärtsilä in 2000 and 2001 after a Chinese shipyard ordered their engines for the two Chinese ferries Visby and Gotland (7). However, the charges against the technical director were dropped after he committed suicide in custody during the trial. The other defendants were convicted in the district court, but were eventually acquitted of the suspicion of bribery in a higher court.
Malfunctioning main engines
In connection with the delivery of the large China-built ferries in 2003, they were christened Visby and Gotland according to Gotlandsbolagets tradition. The older Landskrona-built Visby was thus renamed Visborg, and HSC Gotland was renamed Gotlandia. The new name of the “Frenchman” originally came from the small ferry that Gotlandsbolaget received when it bought the competing Ö-Linjen in the late 1960s.
The HSC Gotland/Gotlandia suffered from various types of malfunctions related to the machinery since delivery and for several years to come. During the 2005 high season, the vessel suffered a crankshaft failure in one of the four engines. The damage was extensive and repairs could not be carried out during service, so the Gotlandia had to continue its service for the rest of the season at a reduced speed. This meant about half an hour extra crossing time. On October 12, the ship left for Falkenberg shipyard for lay-up and repairs to the machinery. The repairs basically involved replacing the entire failed machine. The costs were largely covered by insurance, but a hefty deductible nevertheless meant that the shipping company was hit hard financially.
In April 2006 the vessel was put back into service on Gotland, but it was replaced on July 6 by the newly built fast ferry HSC Gotlandia II. However, the newbuild suffered a fire after only a few days, and on July 12 the HSC Gotlandia was returned to service pending repairs to the Gotlandia II.
On August 24, Gotlandia was taken out of service and was laid up in Visby, and later in Falkenberg and Fårösund with an unclear future.
Öland and Västervik services
Gotlandsbolaget had discontinued its service on the island of Öland already in 1986, but on June 20, 2007, the service was finally resumed and HSC Gotlandia made its first trip between Visby and Grankullavik. The service continued for a few summer seasons but was finally discontinued due to lack of profitability. In 2017, Destination Gotland took up traffic on Västervik after the competing shipping company Gotlandsbåten closed down its traffic. This service was operated by Gotlandia during the high seasons of 2018 and 2019, but after that the HSC Gotlandia was laid up and put up for sale.
After several years in lay-up, Gotlandia was delivered on March 8, 2023 in the port of Visby to a crew from Seajets that flew up from Greece. Gotlandsbolaget had been seeking new owners for the ship for three years and had even considered scrapping it before the deal with Seajets was finalized. At 18:30 on April 3, Superrunner Jet 2 dropped her moorings and departed Visby for the Mediterranean. On the morning of April 14, it arrived the shipyard in Chalkida.
Timeline
| 1999-02-18 | Delivered to Rederi AB Gotland, Visby as HSC Gotland. |
| 2003-10-07 | Renamed Gotlandia. |
| 2023-03-08 | Delivered to Seajets, Piraeus, Greece. Renamed Superrunner Jet 2. |
Specification
| Lenght | 112,51 m |
| Beam | 16,11 m |
| Gross tonnage | 5632 GT |
| Deadweight | 450 ton |
| Machinery | 4 x Ruston 20RK270, 28320 kW, 32 knots |
| Pax | 700 |
| Capacity | 140 cars or 8 buses + 108 cars |
| Call Sign/IMO | SJLC/9171163 |