The UK Government has chartered Tallink’s ‘Silja Europa’to house the British police during the G7 meeting next month.
She will be berthed at Falmouth, and used to accommodate about 1,000 officers who will help safeguard the G7 summit.
“In order to secure further essential capacity, we reviewed a number of options and recently agreed to hire the ‘Silja Europa’, operated by Tallink; taking into account impacts to the environment, community, the operational needs, and those of our officers and staff,” a Devon and Cornwall Police spokesperson for G7 planning told the UK news channel Sky News.
The G7 will be the largest policing operation undertaken by Devon and Cornwall Police and, of the 6,500 officers policing the summit, 5,000 will be from outside the force.
At almost 60,000 gt, ‘Silja Europa’ is one of the largest cruise ferries in the world. She was built in Germany in 1993for Silja Line to serve routes between Finland and Sweden.
Estonian shipping company, Tallink, bought Silja Line in May, 2006 thus ‘Silja Europa’ became an Estonian-owned vessel. The ferry entered Tallink’s Helsinki/Tallinn service in January, 2013.
The 47th G7 summit is due to take place from 11th–13th June in Carbis Bay, St Ives, Cornwall, UK.
