MS Moby Zazà

22 September 1985 near Sheerness

The Olau Britannia was delivered as the younger sister of MS Olau Hollandia on May 5, 1982. Two days later she was christened by Princess Margaret in Sheerness and placed on the route Sheerness—Vlissingen. In August 1984 the ship collided with the freighter MS Mont Louis in the English channel. Olau Line ordered larger replacements for the Olau Hollandia and Olau Britannia in the late 1980s (which were also named Olau Hollandia and Olau Britannia). In preparation for delivery of its replacement, the first Olau Britannia was sold to Nordström & Thulin, Sweden on October 4, 1989, to be delivered in 1990. However, already on October 11 Nordström & Thulin resold the ship to Fred. Olsen & Co.

Christian IV in Kristiansand.

In May 1990 the ship was delivered to her new owners and renamed MS Bayard. After a refit at Blohm & Voss, Hamburg, Germany, the Bayard was set in on Kristiansand—Hirtshals route in June 1990. For the winter season she was transferred to Oslo—Hirtshals service. Fred. Olsen sold its Scandinavian ferry operations to Color Line in December 1990, and in January 1991 the Bayard was renamed MS Christian IV. The ship was kept on the Oslo — Hirtshals service until April 1994, when she returned to the Kristiansand — Hirtshals route. In March 1995 the ship temporarily sailed on the Moss—Kiel route, after which she reverted to her older route. The ship was refitted in 1999 at Fredericia Værft in Denmark, with additional restaurants and better conference facilities. She was refitted again in 2005, this time at Remontowa, Gdańsk, Poland.[1][3] In March 2008 she was replaced by the new MS Superspeed 1 on the Kristiansand—Hirsthals route, and laid up at Sandefjord.[1][4] Between 2008-04-10 and 2008-06-15 the Christian IV sailed on the Larvik—Hirsthals route, replacing MS Peter Wessel – that had been sold to the Mediterranean Shipping Company – until the delivery of the new MS Superspeed 2.[1][5][6][7]

MS Julia in Helsinki in August 2008

On 2008-05-20 the Christian IV was sold by Color Line to Stella Naves Russia (Stella Lines), a subsidiary of the Finnish freight shipping and stevedoring operator Stella Company Group, for €13 million.[1][7][8] The ship was delivered to her new owners in July 2008, and subsequently renamed Julia. On 2008-08-01 she entered service on Stella Lines' Helsinki—St. Petersburg route.[1][9] Passenger numbers on the Julia were low due to the bureaucracy related to applying a visa in order to travel between Finland and Russia. Additionally due to restrictions imposed by the Port of Helsinki the Julia could not carry any freight on the service.[10] On 2008-09-20 the Russian State Duma approved a law change allowing passengers arriving by scheduled ferry services to visit Russia for up to 72 hours without a visa.

Despite this legislation change the Helsinki—St. Petersburg service of the Julia was terminated due slower than expected growth of the passenger numbers, failure to acquire additional funding due to the economic crisis of 2008 and larger than expected harbour expenses in St. Petersburg. On 9 October 2008 Stella Lines CEO Kari Juvas stated that the company would make the decisions about the future of the Julia within the next few days. According to Juvas the alternatives are selling the ship or utilizing the ship on a service between Kotka, Finland and Sillamäe, Estonia.[10][11][12] Juvas had stated that Stella was interested in operating a ship on the Kotka—Sillamäe route already in July 2007.[13] The Russia-based companies Morskoi Voksal and Inflot, along with the City of St. Petersburg planned on acquiring the share majority of Stella Lines and providing funding for recommencing service on the Helsinki—St. Petersburg route with the Julia. However, on 3 November 2008 it was reported that the City of St. Petersburg had withdrawn from the purchase. On the same date Kim Sjöblom of Stella Lines stated the company are looking for other funders allowing the service to be restarted.[14] These attempts failed and Stella Lines was declared bankrupt on 6 November 2008, with the ownership of the Julia passing to Stella's creditors Aktia Savings Bank.[15]

Reportedly several companies have expressed an interest in buying the Julia, but none have been able to raise the capital needed to buy her.[16] On 17 February 2009 it was reported that one of the potential buyers for the Julia is Irish shipowner Frank Allen, who had acquired a loan from a Finnish bank to purchase the ship for use on a service between Cork and Swansea under the brand of B&I Line, which would be re-established for this service.[17] A public auction to sell the Julia was held on 26 February 2009, but no bids were made.[18] In a second auction held on 12 March 2009 B&I Line made the highest bid of €6 million, but confusion surrounded the initial undertaking of €1.5 million to secure the ship and she remained unsold. No further auction was held, instead the bankrupt's estate negotiated directly with potential buyers. In addition to B&I Line, Greek Halkidon Shipping Corporation and two unnamed Finnish companies were reported to have shown interest in the ship.[19][20]