Tallink Grupp’s ISABELLE, long-term chartered by Bridgemans Services Group, is set to serve as on-site workforce accommodation for the Woodfibre LNG liquified natural gas export project near Squamish, BC, starting in spring 2024.
Read more on the Bridgemans Services website.
Bridgemans is now beginning an extensive retrofit of ISABELLE’s environmental systems and living, dining, recreation, and gathering areas to create a comfortable live-work home for large workforces.
When the retrofit in Estonia is finished in late 2023, the ferry will offer a luxurious home away from home that includes 650 newly renovated single cabins with private ensuites, a high-end dining room, lounges, meeting rooms, fast wi-fi, offices, first aid clinic, a state-of-the-art fitness facility, billiards and games room, and dedicated accommodations for crew members.
In April, Tallink Grupp signed a contract with Canadian enterprise Bridgemans Floatel LP/Bridgemans Services Group LP for a multi-year charter of the vessel ISABELLE, with a purchase option.
On 7 December 2022, Tallink Superfast Ltd, a subsidiary of AS Tallink Grupp, took delivery of the new fast passenger ferry MyStar from Rauma Marine Constructions.
AS Tallink Grupp and Estonian Social Insurance Board have signed a short-term time-charter agreement ropax ISABELLE.
The vessel will be chartered to the Estonian authorities from 8 December 2022 for six months with extension options (6+1+1).
The vessel will be used to provide temporary accommodation to Ukrainian refugees arriving in Estonia.
Tallink Grupp’s vessel ISABELLE is undergoing regular maintenance in the Turku Repair Yard, prior to returning to Port of Riga after two years of absence
ISABELLE, which until the start of the pandemic operated on the company’s Riga-Stockholm route, is getting a regular dry-docking, scheduled from 12 to 25 February 2022.
After the technical maintenance works, the vessel will proceed directly to the Port of Riga where she will wait for the re-opening of company’s popular Riga-Stockholm route in April 2022.
ISABELLE is going to operate on the Paldiski-Kapellskär route from Sunday, 7 June until the end of August.
Currently REGAL STAR operates on the only route currently open between Estonia and Sweden, ensuring a vital transport link.
As demand for cargo capacity and also for passengers with vehicles has increased in recent weeks and in order to ensure that sufficient space is available for social distancing, the company has decided to add ISABELLE.
She will still predominantly transport cargo between the two countries, but will also take passengers with vehicles, who need to travel between the two countries for reasons other than tourism and leisure.
Tallink Grupp’s subsidiary Tallink Latvija AS has notified the Latvian Employment Agency and the group’s Latvian crew members and shore personnel that it is commencing a collective redundancies process involving around 550 Latvian employees. The process involves both crew members of the group’s Latvian flagged vessels ISABELLE and ROMANTIKA as well as the company’s Latvian shore personnel.
Tallink’s Riga-Stockholm route vessels Isabelle and Romantika have been suspended at the Port of Riga since mid-March due to the ongoing state of emergency and the established travel restrictions and there is currently no information on when the operation of the route is likely to be restored. As per maritime regulations, both vessels currently have the minimum required level of technical crew onboard, but all other onboard employees have been at home for the last month with reduced salaries, paid by the company.
