MV Hrossey, the second of NorthLink’s new fleet of ferries to be delivered, will be named officially on Saturday (September 28) during a ceremony in her home port of Kirkwall, Orkney.

Hrossey, which takes its name from the old Norse for Orkney, is a 125-metre ro-ro cruise ferry and will operate the Kirkwall – Aberdeen – Lerwick route when NorthLink assumes control of the lifeline Northern Isles ferry routes on October 1, 2002.

Jim Wallace MSP, Deputy First Minister and member for Orkney, will be the guest speaker at the ceremony during which Hrossey will be officially named by Kirsten Kelday from Kirkwall. Kirsten’s dad, Alan Kelday, won NorthLink’s vessel naming competition in August last year, when he was one of several entrants to suggest the name Hrossey. Alan and Kirsten travelled to Finland in June as part of his prize, where they were able to examine the NorthLink fleet as it neared the end of the construction phase.

After an official blessing from Rev Fraser McNaughton of St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, guests will be invited to board Hrossey and tour the state-of-the-art vessel. Hrossey will be open to the public the following day (Sunday, September 29) from 9.30am until 3.30pm at Kirkwall Pier.

The naming ceremony will have a distinctly Orcadian feel to it – a bottle of 12-year-old Highland Park malt whisky will be smashed over the vessel’s bow, in place of the customary champagne. Highland Park is the most northerly distillery in the world and it is fitting that MV Hrossey will be blessed by a product of the distillery which overlooks her home port of Kirkwall.

NorthLink Orkney and Shetland Ferries Ltd, a joint venture involving Royal Bank of Scotland and Caledonian MacBrayne, was awarded the contract to provide ferry services to the Northern Isles in December 2000.

Aker Finnyards, the well respected Finnish shipbuilder based in Rauma, was chosen to build the three new vessels that now make up the NorthLink fleet along with freight vessel, Hascosay. Aker officially handed Hrossey over to NorthLink at a ceremony in Rauma earlier this month when the yard’s flag was lowered from the mast and Northlink’s raised in its place.

NorthLink chief executive Bill Davidson, said: “This event comes on the back of a hugely succesful naming ceremony for Hrossey’s sister ship, Hjaltland in Lerwick two weeks ago. Nearly 3500 visitors turned up to tour Hjaltland on Sunday and the feedback we have received has been very positive indeed. I would urge Orcadians to make the most of this opportunity to tour the vessel before she goes into service.”

The third new vessel in the fleet, Hamnavoe, remains on target for delivery later this month. Hamnavoe, which means home port or safe haven, will also be registered in Kirkwall and will sail the Pentland Firth (Scrabster – Stromness) route.

The full programme for Hrossey’s naming ceremony on Saturday is as follows: