Tallink's LNG newbuild carried over two million passengers during her first year of service on the Helsinki-Tallinn route.

According to the company, this is the highest number of travellers served on any vessel employed in Baltic ferry traffic within one year.

In total, the 212 m long GT 49k Megastar, offering room for 2.8k passengers and 3.65k lane metres of cargo capacity, travelled 94,520 nm during her first year of operations, starting 29^th January 2017.

The cruise ferry replaced the 2007-built GT 36.4k Superstar (2.08k pax/1.93k lm), which has been sold to the Mediterranean where she now plies as Pascal Lota in the colours of Corsica Ferries. According to Tallink, while bigger, Megastar is far more eco-friendly than its predecessor, emitting nearly 40% less CO2.

Megastar cost €230m, which is the largest private capital investment in Estonia in the past decade.

"The ship truly is a next generation vessel, which has launched a new era on the Baltic sea and set a new standard," Janek Stalmeister, CEO, Tallink Grupp, said. He then added, "Tallink is a pioneer when it comes to technological advances and environmentally friendly activities on the Baltic Sea, because this is beneficial for our business, both from the cost efficiency as well as customer satisfaction and travel experience perspective."

Photo: Tallink