When DFDS finalised an agreement with Swedish Salen Group (SSG) in the autumn of 1981 to purchase the North Sea services of Tor Line it not only acquired passenger services from Sweden to Britain and Holland and an extensive freight network, but also two outstanding and fast passenger ferries then in service. The mv Tor Scandinavia and mv Tor Britannia as they were named at the time were to prove instramental in the revival of the Danish companies fortunes in the coming few years.

Tor Line who were originally a consortium of Swedish and Dutch companies including Trans-Oil of Gothenburg and Stockholm based Rex Line (from whose initials Tor Line was derived) began a triangular passenger and vehicle service linking Immingham, Amsterdam and Gothenburg in the mid 1960's using two specially constructed 7,300 ton ferries. Within a short period of time the Swedish founders were bought out by the Salen Group and Tor Lines tength years was highlighted by the debut of the mv Tor Britannia in May 1975. Costing £13million, a snip by todays standards, whe was to immediatly set new standards on the North Sea in terms of comfort, speed and size and could at that time take the title of world's largest car ferry.

The most valuable asset of the two sisters was their high speed, designed to maintain 24.5 knots in North Sea winter conditions, they brought Sweden within 24 hours sailing of a British port for the first time and made the Sweden to Holland run in 22 hours even with power in reserve from their line up of four 12-cylinder Pielstick diesels producing 45,600hp and a top speed of over 26 knots.

The UK to Holland service had been dropped prior to the new ships entering service and although built to squeeze through the lock system and into Immingham's non-tidal harbour they moved south to Felixstowe leaving the Immingham port to be devloped for freight purposes. This move also helped Tor Line see off their only serious competition on the passenger front, Swedish-Lloyd ending a long established Tilbury to Gothenburg service in the autumn of 1977 as their tonnage had become outclassed by the two Tor Sisters.

When completed the mv Tor Brittania had berths for 1234 passengers but to meet demand a number of double cabins were fitted with additional berths to raise the total number of berths to 1416, these changes were to be incorporated into the mv Tor Scandinavia prior to her introduction into service.

Whilst year round services from Gothenburg to both Felixstowe and Amsterdam were provided it was found that only one ship was needed during the winter months and therefore in the early weeks of 1978 and for the two following years the mv Tor Scandinavia was chartered by the Dutch organisation World Wide Expo and set off for lengthy tours including the Gulf States and Far East. She had her vehicle decks transformed into a massive floating exhibition hall for European manufacturers whose representatives were housed onboard and travelled with the ship.

In 1980 Tor Line entered into a brief liason with the Gothenburg to Frederikshavn Sessan Line and trading as Sessan Line between Sweden and Denmark together with a Gothenburg to Travemunde link. mv Tor Britannia emerged from overhaul with the legend 'Sessan Tor Line' painted on a dark blue hull and Sessan Lines mermaid motif superimposed on the Tor Line funnel design of a symbolic whell over waves. This move was mainly an attempt by Sessan to fend off a takeover by Swedish rivals Stena Line, however at a later stage it did seem likely that both Sessan Line and Tor Line would be taken over by Stena Line.

Eventually however DFDS stepped in and purchased Tor Line leaving Sessan Line to be incorporated into the Stena Line empire. The most immediate changes for the two Tor sisters was a switch to the Danish Registry and also an adoption of the DFDS white hull which if anything only emphisised their size even more. Throughout 1982 the ships maintained their old routes but in 1983 they were moved from Felixstowe to Harwich and the Amsterdam route being reduced to summer only.

At one stage during the time when Scandinavia World Cruises was being setup it seemed possible that the mv Tor Britannia might be sent to the United States as the mv Scandinavia Star to provide cruises between Florida and the Bahamas alongside the mv Scandinavia alreadly operating from New York. In the end other tonnage was purchased and the two sisters began to figure is Esbjerg sailings in the closing months of 1983 after the mv Dana Regina was withdrawn to Copenhagen.

The two sisters really came into their own the following year when the Sweden to Holland service was dropped completly and a schedule produced which, in the summer peak, enabled just three ships to handle daily departures from Harwich to Esbjerg and a sailing every second day to Gothenburg. This was possible due to the high speed of the two sisters which alternated between the Sweden and Danish route with the mv Dana Anglia serving just the Danish route. The whole operation however hinged on the two sisters sailing between Esbjerg and Harwich in 15 hours, some four hours faster than the mv Dana Anglia. This resulted in an 08:30 arrival in Harwich then with 11:30 departure to Sweden, passing whichever sister was inbound from Sweden which was then scheduled to operate to Esbjerg that evening.

These intensive workings lasted from early Juen to the middle of August, however the accelerated crossings from Esbjerg remained for the remainder of the year on Thursdays to allow the ships to change rosters. The mv Tor Britannia was to enter the record books in 1985, when during a low season crossing between Esbjerg and Harwich following weather delays made the 342 nautical crossing in 13 hours and 8 minutes, averaging 23.36 knots and consuming 22 gallans of fuel per minute!!!!

In 1988 DFDS adopted a new marketing name, Scandinavian Seaways, for their passenger division. As a result the sisters were painted in a new attractive white/blue livery, but the change also meant diappearance of the name Tor Line from their hulls. However, they did still maintain their original names. In the same year the ships were moved to Danish International Shipregistry, which meant less operational costs for the company.

In 1989 Scandinavian Seaways decided to start a service from Gothenburg to Amsterdam again, so from February 1989 onwards mv Tor Scandinavia alternated on the rotues Gothenburg to Harwich and Gothenburg to Amsterdam. In September of the same year a fire broke out onboard the mv Tor Scandinavia during a crossing to Harwich, and the ship was forced to sail to Esbjerg instead. From there she continued to HDW Nobiskrug, Rendsburg, Germany for repairs.

During January and February 1991 the sisters were rebuilt at Blohm & Voss, Hamburg, Germany. After the rebuilding they received new names, mv Prince of Scandinavia and mv Princess of Scandinavia to bring them in-line with Scandinavian Seaways' other ships. In 1994 the mv Princess of Scandinavia occasionally sailed between Kristiansand, Norway, and IJmuiden, the Netherlands. In June of the same year problems with one of the propellers meant the ship's speed was limited to 15 knots. While docked in Kristiansand to fix the problem the ship capsised, causing extensive damage.

To conform new safety regulations the sisters were rebuilt with side sponsons in January-March 1998 at Gdansk Shiprepair Yard, Gdansk, Poland. In 1999 DFDS abandoned the marketing name Scandinavian Seaways and the company name reverted to DFDS Seaways.

The mv Princess of Scandinavia spent January 2004 laid up in Gothenburg where her interiors were brought up to date. In January 2005 she was again rebuilt, this time with a new sprinkler system and catalytic converters, and her cabins and public areas were upgrraded. However, despite these changes the end was near for the ship's service with DFDS. She spent January 2006 laid up in Gothenburg, after which she momentarily served on the Newcastle - IJmuiden route during the time when mv Duke of Scandinavia had already been chartered to Brittany Ferries but her replacement mv King of Scandinavia was not yet ready for service. After this brief stint on the Dutch service Princess returned to Gothenburg - Kristiansand - Newcastle service. At this time (possibly earlier?) a 23-hour cruise from Gothenburg to Kristiansand and back was done every Friday.

On 6th September 2006 DFDS Seaways reported that they had purchased mv Fjord Norway from the Norway-based Fjord Line, and would be continuing the ship's service from the UK to Norway. As a result of this the mv Princess of Scandinavia was sold and would stop sailing for DFDS on 1st November of the same year. The buyer was later revealed to be Italian Moby Line, who had already purchased the Princess' sister in 2003.

So 2006 saw many people wave goodbye to the Princess as she sailed from Newcastle for the last time to Frederikshavn for destoring (much of which was transferred to the mv Princess of Norway (ex. mv Fjord Norway)) and removal of DFDS branding prior to sailing out of UK waters on what is expecteded to be a one way voyage. The Princess like the Prince are now operated by Moby Lines and are proving to be a big hit with their new passengers as much as they did with their old ones. It is hoped they will live on for many years to come, but with an age of 32 years they are certainly in their final few years. It will be a very sad day when these sleak looking ships are retired from service permanently.