Editing RG Line

{{Short description|Finnish shipping company}}
{{Update|date=May 2011}}
{{infobox company
| name             = RG Line Oy Ab
| logo             = [[File:Rgline logo.svg|250px|RG Line logo]]
| caption          =
| type             =
| genre            =
| fate             =
| predecessor      =
| successor        =
| foundation       = 2001
| founder          =
| defunct          =
| location_city    =
| location_country =
| location         = [[Vaasa]], [[Finland]]
| locations        =
| area_served      = [[Gulf of Bothnia]]
| key_people       = [[Rabbe Grönblom]]
| industry         = Passenger transportation<br>Freight transportation
| products         =
| services         =
| revenue          =
| operating_income =
| net_income       =
| aum              =
| assets           =
| equity           =
| owner            =
| num_employees    =
| parent           =
| divisions        =
| subsid           =
| homepage         = [http://www.rgline.com www.rgline.com]
| footnotes        =
| intl             =
}}

'''RG Line Oy Ab''' was a [[Finland|Finnish]] [[shipping company]] founded in 2001 that operated a ferry line between [[Vaasa]], [[Finland]] and [[Umeå]], [[Sweden]] until the end of 2012. Nowadays the Vaasa-Umeå line is operated by [[Wasa Line]]. 

The company was founded in 2001 by well known Vaasa-based businessman [[Rabbe Grönblom]], just months after [[Silja Line]] had put their traffic on [[Kvarken|Kvarken / Merenkurkku]] to an end because of a decision in the [[European Union|EU]] to stop taxfree sales on travels between member states. RG Line bought Silja's M/S ''Fennia'' and renamed her to [[M/S Casino Express|M/S ''Casino Express'']], the ship was put in traffic on the route Vaasa–Umeå on 16 May 2001. At first RG Line profiled the ship as a ship where you could have fun and party, much like the ferries who trafficked Kvarken in the tax-free times. However, it did not become a success; people did not want to cruise any more. The [[blackjack]] and [[roulette]] tables they had added to get a [[casino]] feeling were removed before a year had passed.  The company focused on ordinary travellers and [[cargo]] instead. The route over Kvarken was supported financially by the city of Vaasa. The city of Umeå or the county of Västerbotten do not support international connections because of a policy. The county of Västerbotten is responsible for local bus transport, but they don't have a bus line to the Umeå port, the nearest is {{convert|1.5|km|mi|0}} away.

The company filed for [[bankruptcy]] on 29 November 2011, and the operations are suspended.<ref name="yle_20111129">{{Cite web | url = http://www.yle.fi/alueet/pohjanmaa/2011/11/rg_line_hakeutuu_konkurssiin_3067617.html | title = RG Line hakeutuu konkurssiin | work = YLE Uutiset | date = 29 November 2011 | publisher = Yleisradio Oy | accessdate = 29 November 2011 | language = Finnish }}</ref> Despite the bankruptcy, the company is continuing operations until October 2012.

==History 2004–2005==
On 23 November 2004 RG Line announced that they had bought the ship [[M/S Kahleberg|M/S ''Kahleberg'']], which has more capacity for cargo and takes less passengers than ''Casino Express'', which it will replace. It is said that ''Kahleberg'' will be put into traffic between Vaasa and Umeå in May 2005.

On 24 November, one day after RG Line informed the public about the purchase of their new ship ''Kahleberg'', bad luck struck the company. ''Casino Express'', with 39 passengers and 27 crew members on board, ran aground just outside the harbour of [[Holmsund]] near Umeå. At the time of the accident, there were strong south-western winds up to {{convert|25|-|30|m/s|km/h mph}}. ''Casino Express'' got some serious damages that had to be repaired; six days after the grounding the ship was pulled from the reef and then towed to a repair [[shipyard]] in [[Estonia]].

On 26 November, RG Line announced that they had chartered [[M/S Alandia|M/S ''Alandia'']] from [[Eckerö Linjen]] to temporarily sail for the company while ''Casino Express'' was being repaired in Estonia. ''Alandia'' is a well-known ship for people in the Kvarken region, as she had been trafficking for [[Vasabåtarna]] for thirteen years as ''Botnia Express'' before she was sold to Eckerö Linjen.

''Alandia'', which at the time of ''Casino Express''{{'}} accident was laid up in [[Eckerö]], was sent to a repair shipyard in [[Stockholm]] to fix a broken propeller. After that she would immediately take up the traffic for RG Line. She arrived at Holmsund on 9 December, where she loaded cargo, food et cetera that had been on ''Casino Express''. ''Alandia'' took off to Vaasa that evening; she would make her first regular trip from there the morning after. But the ship did not get far; she ran aground on the same place as ''Casino Express'' did just weeks earlier. ''Alandia'' suffered some damages and could not continue to Vaasa; she was instead sent off to a repair shipyard in [[Mariehamn]] and RG Line was once again without a ship.

RG Line's new ship ''Kahleberg'' arrived to Vaasa in the last days of January 2005. The plan was to rebuild the ship and not put it into traffic until in May. ''Alandia'' was still being repaired, RG Line did not want to wait for her to get back. Instead they decided to put the unrenovated ''Kahleberg'' into traffic on January 21. On her first trip to Umeå she had a motor breakdown about 10 minutes out of Vaasa and had to set anchor; she eventually made it to Umeå but delayed. ''Kahleberg'' was classed to take no more than 75 passengers; RG Line intended to reclass her after having renovated her. The local newspapers criticized RG Line for putting a ship with such low passenger capacity and low comfort into traffic. For the school's winter holidays, when travelling between Sweden and Finland rises, RG Line had to charter the now repaired ''Alandia'', which have a higher passenger capacity. She was in traffic between Umeå and Vaasa between 26 February and March 9 instead of ''Kahleberg''.

On April 23, ''Kahleberg'' was chartered to deliver cargo to [[Sundsvall]]. At the same time RG Line announced that, starting that summer, they would make one trip a week to Sundsvall.

On May 1, ''Casino Express'' returned from the Estonian shipyard and was put back in traffic on her old route. The renovation of ''Kahleberg'' could now finally begin.

==Route==
RG Line operated one route across the [[Gulf of Bothnia]]. The {{convert|53|NM|km mi|adj=on}}<ref>Google Earth</ref> crossing between [[Vaasa]] and [[Umeå]] ([[Holmsund]]) took 4 hours and 30 minutes. 

==Fleet==
RG Line operated one vessel.<ref>{{cite web|author=Micke Asklander|accessdate=September 11, 2011|title=Faktaomfartyg – M/S Kahleberg (1983)|url=http://www.faktaomfartyg.se/kahleberg_1983.htm|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120730113623/http://www.faktaomfartyg.nu/kahleberg_1983.htm|archivedate=2012-07-30|url-status=dead}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable sortable" border="1"
|+
|-
! scope="col" width="130pt"| Name
! scope="col" width="80pt"| Built
! scope="col" width="80pt"| Enterered service
! scope="col" width="80pt"| Tonnage
|-
| ''[[MS RG I|RG I]]'' ||align="Center" | 1983 ||align="Center" | 2005 ||align="Center" | {{GT|10,271}}
|-
|}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.rgline.com - old Official site]

[[Category:Shipping companies of Finland]]
[[Category:Vaasa]]
[[Category:Umeå]]