Finland Steamship Company

Finland Steamship Company / Effoa

House flag
Industry	Cargo and passengershipping
Founded	1883
Defunct	1990
Fate	Merger
Successor	EffJohn
Headquarters	Helsinki,Finland
Subsidiaries	Silja Line Finncarriers Finnlines

Titania,an FÅA ship that sailed on Helsinki/Hanko – Copenhagen – Hull in the early 20th century.

Finland Steamship Company(Swedish:Finska Ångfartygs Aktiebolag,abbreviatedFÅA,Finnish:Suomen Höyrylaiva Osakeyhtiö,abbreviatedSHO) was aFinnishshipping company founded in 1883 by Captain Lars Krogius.In Finnish and Swedish, the company was usually referred to simply as FÅA. In 1976, the company changed its name toEffoa,a phonetic spelling of the abbreviation FÅA.

The company was a founding member of theSilja Lineconsortium.In 1975 FÅA foundedFinncarrierstogether withFinnlinesas a joint freight operations venture. At the same time FÅA gave up passenger traffic between Finland and Germany, the ships used on the route were sold to Finnlines. In the 1980s both Finncarriers and Finnlines became fully owned subsidiaries of Effoa. In 1989 Effoa decided to give up its freight-carrying operations, and its shares of Finnlines were transferred to Effoa's owners.Effoa stopped trading as an independent company in 1990 when its freight operations were demerged to form an independentFinnlines,while the passenger operations were merged withJohnson Line(the other partner in Silja Line at the time) to formEffJohn.

In 1945, FÅA was the first company post-World War IIto restart passenger traffic betweenHelsinkiandStockholm,usingWellamo.The same ship was also the first to start passenger traffic between Helsinki andTallinnafter World War II in 1965.

Ships

• Arcturus(1899–57) — Passenger ship that operated primarily on theHanko–Copenhagen–Hullroute.
• Oberon(1925–30) — Sunk whenArcturuscollided with it in fog.
• Wellamo(1927–67) — RestartedHelsinki–StockholmandHelsinki–Tallinntraffic after World War II. Scrapped in 1969.
• Ilmatar(1964–80) — Later the casino cruise shipPalm Beach Princess.Scrapped in 2011.
• Finlandia(1967–76) — Effoa's first modern car/passenger ferry. Scrapped in 2009.
• Aallotar(1972–78) — First ship to start year-round traffic between Helsinki and Stockholm. Scrapped in 2004.
• Finlandia(1981–90) — Largestcruiseferryof her time. LaterQueen of ScandinaviaofDFDS Seaways.
• Finnjet(1986–90) — Bought fromEnso-Gutzeit.The longest and fastest cruise ferry of her time, and still fastest as of 2008.

External links

• Finland Steamship Company at TheShipList
• Silja Line company website