| IMO | 9895252 |
|---|---|
| Gross tonnage | 10,617 GT |
| Length | 113.5 m |
| Beam | 24 m |
| Passenger capacity (double) | 152 |
| Passenger capacity (max) | 198 |
| Crew | 117 |
| Service speed | 12.0 knots |
| Builder | Helsinki Shipyard |
| Yard | Helsinki |
| Hull number | 517 |
| Launched | 2022 |
| Maiden voyage | 2022 |
| Operator | Swan Hellenic |
| Status | Active |
Overview
SH Vega is the second of the three expedition ships built by Helsinki Shipyard for the revived Swan Hellenic brand, floated out on 11 February 2022 and entering service that year. She is a 10,617 GT ship for 152 guests, built as Helsinki yard number 517 to a "cultural expedition" brief: a small, ice-strengthened, five-star ship intended to take Swan Hellenic's historically minded cruising — the brand's tradition runs back to the 1950s — into polar and remote waters. With her twin sister SH Minerva and the slightly larger SH Diana, she forms the fleet with which Swan Hellenic returned to operation after its long absence as a shipowning brand.
Key specifications
The dataset records registered particulars: 10,617 GT (Swan Hellenic's launch material rounds the design to about 10,500 GT), 113.5 m in length and 24 m in beam, 152 guests at double occupancy in 76 cabins and suites, a crew of 117 in the dataset — the line's float-out release described an onboard team of 120, a small variant logged in the build notes — and a service speed of 12.0 knots. Her machinery is a 4.6-megawatt diesel-electric plant in a hybrid-ready arrangement, with selective catalytic reduction, and her hull is ice-strengthened to PC5. She is certified to Safe Return to Port standards and was designed battery-ready, so that future battery installation could allow silent, emission-free running in port and in sensitive areas.
Design and construction
Vega was built at Helsinki Shipyard, the Finnish yard whose ice-going expertise is the foundation of the design: PC5 ice strengthening, a hull and propulsion package specified for world-wide expedition work, and the latest emission standards designed in from the start. She is the second of a three-ship order placed by the revived Swan Hellenic; steelwork for the third ship was already under way when Vega floated out, with about half of that ship's blocks ready. Her interior concept, shared with her sister, is what the line calls Scandinavian-inspired expedition elegance — spacious cabins, the great majority with large balconies, and public rooms sized to the 152-guest complement rather than to a larger ship's plan. Hygiene technology, including UV-sanitised air conditioning, was part of the as-built specification, a marker of her pandemic-era design freeze.
Naming, launch and maiden voyage
SH Vega's name was revealed at her keel-laying, in the line's practice of announcing names during construction. She floated out of dry dock at Helsinki on Friday 11 February 2022 — the dataset's launch year, 2022, and specifically 10 February 2022 in the dataset build's registry-derived notes, a one-day difference against the line's 11 February float-out announcement that is logged in the build notes. She was delivered in May 2022 as scheduled at float-out, and her maiden cruise was an 11-day sailing from Leith, Scotland, departing 29 May 2022, through the Faroe Islands and Orkney to Reykjavík, Iceland. The dataset records her maiden voyage by year, 2022.
Career by operator
SH Vega has had a single name and operator.
| Period | Name | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| 2022–present | SH Vega | Swan Hellenic |
Her service is Swan Hellenic's cultural expedition programme, the employment her ice class and size were built for. This guide records her operator history — which is, so far, a single entry — and does not track her itineraries.
Onboard character
Vega's character is defined by ratio and by intent: 10,617 GT for 152 guests is one of the more generous space ratios in expedition cruising, and the ship was designed to feel like a boutique hotel that happens to be ice-strengthened. The Swan Hellenic tradition she serves is the "cultural expedition" — voyages built around guest lecturers and the history and nature of the regions visited, rather than pure adventure activity — delivered with contemporary expedition hardware: an ice-strengthened hull, expedition boats and a specialist team. The design's Scandinavian styling, big balconies and viewing space are the permanent features; her lecture and activity programmes change by voyage and are not recorded here.
Major refits and incidents
No refit has been reported for SH Vega, and no significant incident involving her had been reported in the sources used for this guide at the time of writing.
Sister ships and class
SH Vega's twin is SH Minerva (delivered December 2021), a ship of the same registered tonnage and capacity, and the third ship of the Helsinki order, SH Diana (2023), is a slightly larger development of the same design. The dataset leaves Vega's class field blank; the three are generally described as Swan Hellenic's Helsinki-built expedition class.
Fate and where she is now
SH Vega is in active service with Swan Hellenic (status as recorded in the dataset).
Sources: https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/details/9895252; Swan Hellenic float-out press release (11 February 2022) via Swan Hellenic, Travel Weekly and CruiseReport; Helsinki Shipyard delivery reporting (2022).