Ferries Aura ja Aurora

In October 1993, the Finnish Maritime Administration commissioned Olkiluoto Telakka Oy to build a series of two car-passenger ferries designed according to our concept

The ship’s design largely followed the same solutions that had been found to be good in previous ferries that we had designed. “Almost like Falco, but better at breaking ice and clearly more passenger-friendly”, beamed Åbo Underrättelser in its Saturday issue on July 2, 1994.

In the design of the ships, we tried to implement the wishes of the owner as well as possible. The shape of the ships’ hulls was changed to improve the icebreaking power, and the ships were built with comfortable passenger lounges on the bridge deck, from which there is a good view of the archipelago’s nature. Aquamaster’s counter-rotating (CRP) azimuth thrusters were installed on Aurora as an experiment: The manufacturer wanted a reference for its new efficient ice device and promised Merenkulkuhallitus that if the customer is not satisfied with the choice at the end of the warranty period, it will be replaced with standard-type azimuth propeller equipment at the manufacturer’s expense.

The first ship, Aura, was completed in November 1994 and placed on the Hiittinen route, and the second, Aurora, in Iniö a year later, in October 1995.

Both ships were very well received in the islands. The living conditions of the archipelago were considered to have improved considerably when the ferry service operated reliably all year round, it was able to carry heavy transport vehicles, and there was also space for the cars of the islanders and tourists.

The warranty docking of the ships was done about a year after the handover of both ships. In the meeting held after the warranty work, the Finnish Maritime Administration’s director Veijo Hiukka reminded about the contract with Aquamaster: He announced in his acceptance speech that he would like to change the propulsion equipment of the other ship, as was agreed upon during the construction of the ships. Aurora’s counter-rotating propellers had saved even more in fuel costs than what the manufacturer had promised! Hiukka suggested with humor in the corner of his eye that a change be made, but so that both would have CRP devices. Aquamaster thanked and said that the results of several familiarization visits had convinced so many customers that at the moment there is not time to make as many counter-rotating machines as they would like to order. No exchange was made, but the shipping company, the shipyard, the designer and the equipment manufacturer were all satisfied.