On March 17,
Itella Posti Oy will complete the Nordic Maritimeseries by
publishing a miniature sheet. Its two stamps depict the legendary Finnjet ferry
which navigated between Helsinki and Travemünde from 1977 to 2008. At the time,
it was the world's largest car ferry measured by weight, length, capacity,
speed and power.
Graphic artist Klaus
Welp, the designer of the stamp, has also embedded a childhood photograph
in the sheet, showing him enjoying a sea trip to Germany on the deck of the
ferry with his father, mother and brother. In the picture, Klaus Welp is three
years old.
GTS Finnjet was
a cruise ferry, built in 1977 by Wärtsilä Helsinki, Finland for Finnlines
traffic between Finland and Germany. At the time of her delivery, Finnjet was the fastest, longest and largest car ferry in the world, and the only one
powered by gas turbines. At the point of her
scrapping in 2008, she remained the fastest conventional ferry in the world,
with a recorded top speed of 33.5 knots (62.0 km/h; 38.6 mph).
Finnjet had remained out of
service since 2005, laid up in Baton Rouge, Freeport and Genoa. Although she
was purchased by Club Cruise in November 2007 and renamed MS Da Vinci in January 2008 for rebuilding into a
cruise ship, the ship was sold for scrap in May 2008. Following the sale she
was renamed MS Kingdom for her final voyage to the scrapyard
in Alang, India where scrapping finally started in
September 2008.
Thank you Dear Ella for this wonderful FDC with the superb minisheet.
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