Helsinki Cathedral and Allas Sea Pool. Photo: Antti Aimo-Koivisto / Lehtikuva
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Allas Pool has increased its compensation demand and issued stronger allegations against Viking Line following the 2022 collision of M/S Gabriella with a quay next to the Helsinki sea spa.
The spa company is claiming €3.5 million in damages for business interruption and infrastructure repairs. It accuses Viking Line of serious negligence and misleading information regarding the cause of the accident.
The January 2022 incident caused structural damage to the quay, the sauna building, and the adjacent waterfront wall. The cruise ship struck the dock while departing from Helsinki’s South Harbour. No injuries were reported.
The compensation case is now proceeding in the Helsinki Maritime Court. Allas Pool, the City of Helsinki, and insurance firm Fennia are jointly seeking approximately €6 million in total.
Allas argues that repairs disrupted operations for an extended period, causing significant financial losses. Fennia covered structural damage costs and is also involved in the legal process.
Jan Hanses, CEO of Viking Line, said the company has reached a settlement with Fennia and is negotiating with the City of Helsinki. “I believe an agreement is possible with the city, but Allas seems unwilling to settle,” b said.
According to Allas Pool, the legal escalation follows a court-ordered release of internal Viking Line documents. These formed the basis for a technical review by Matti Lehtonen, a professor of electrical engineering at Aalto University.
Allas claims the documents reveal that Viking Line knew about electrical system faults on Gabriella for years prior to the crash. They reject the company’s earlier explanation that the issue was a sudden and unforeseeable malfunction.
The company’s latest court filing alleges that the power failure and subsequent loss of control that caused the crash stemmed from long-standing maintenance failures. These included faulty circuit breaker settings and protective system misconfigurations on the bow thruster.
“The incident was not unexpected. It was only a matter of time before a poorly functioning circuit breaker failed at a critical moment,” Allas stated in court.
Hanses dismissed the expert assessment as one-sided and said Viking Line does not accept the conclusions.
A preliminary report by the Safety Investigation Authority of Finland (Otkes) found that one of Gabriella’s bow thrusters stopped due to overload shortly after undocking. This caused a power distribution failure that led to the loss of steerage. A similar overload occurred in late 2021, but did not affect the vessel’s controls.
Otkes did not launch a full investigation. It concluded that ice conditions had led to the overload by blocking the bow thruster tunnel.
Allas Pool argues that Viking Line failed to maintain protective systems designed to prevent such widespread electrical failures. The company says it has documented evidence showing long-term neglect.
The captain of Gabriella filed a formal statement with the district court in February 2022, claiming the event was unforeseeable. Under maritime law, liability depends on whether the court finds the operator guilty of negligence.
Raoul Grünstein, chair of Allas Pool’s board, said that the spa tried to negotiate with Viking Line, but no agreement was reached. “They crash a seven-storey vessel into a narrow harbour and then deny responsibility. That’s hard to accept from a common-sense perspective,” he said.
Hanses responded that maritime law requires proof of negligence or intent. “It’s up to the court to decide whether that threshold is met. In our view, it is not.”
Viking Line will submit its formal response later this year. The trial is expected to continue into late 2024 or early 2025.
HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
