Viking Line’s Mariella passenger and car ferry was drifting without steering capability between 00:30 and 01:00 (24 hour notation) near Utö in the Gulf of Finland on saturday morning 2009-09-19. YLE and HBL have more. There apparently was some spare power on so it was not a total blackout. This made the papers while the previous incident with Eckerö Line Nordlandia made it only to Hufvudstadsbladet (thumbs up to them!).
There was little traffic there then, but that’s just a matter of good luck.
This is dangerous, there are usually about a thousand people on board in these ships, and the Gulf of Finland is a busy traffic area, so vehicles without steering capability could collide easily.
Tallink / Silja Line sail still without such an incident.
Now would be the time to up the official supervision hugely – not after a real accident happens!