The vessel, built by Hollming in Rauma, Finland, as Finn, was delivered on 28 April 1987 and has since been used mainly to supply raw materials to the Raahe Steel Works.

Later Finnlines performed several feasibility studies which showed that a pusher-barge system would be the most economical and efficient method of transporting bulk cargoes on the relatively short routes of the Baltic Sea.

However, due to delays in negotiations, Rautaruukki, concerned about the continuous supply of raw materials to the Raahe Steel Works, decided to order one pusher and two barges for itself.

[6] Pusher Steel and barges Baltic, Board and Bulk, built by a Portuguese shipyard Estaleiros Navais de Setubal in Setúbal and outfitted in Rauma, were delivered to their respective joint shipping companies on 28 April 1987.

[6] When the two pushers and five barges of the Finnpusku system entered service in 1986–1987, it was estimated that they would carry one third of the ten million tons of bulk cargo arriving in Finland by sea every year.

[6][7] Due to the difficulties in the timing of the transportation needs of Rautaruukki and Finnlines the time-chartering of the second pusher did not fulfill the requirements of the steel company's raw material supply schedule.

[11] As part of the agreement, worth 140 million euros, the ownership and management of the Finnpusku system was transferred to ESL Shipping, a subsidiary of the Aspo Group.

[12] In February 2011 ESL Shipping signed a new long-term contract with Rautaruukki for the transportation of the raw materials of the steel industry in the Baltic Sea.

The pushers and barges of the Finnpusku system was docked at Arctech Helsinki Shipyard and modernized by STX Finland Lifecycle Services during the summer of 2011.

Finn-Baltic left the port of Raahe with a cargo of 13,398 tons of Malmberget A Fines (MAF) iron ore concentrate bound for the steel factory of Koverhar in Hanko, southern Finland, on 25 December 1990.

During its stay in Raahe, the barge developed a list of 1–2 degrees to port and the harbour workers noted that the cargo seemed to be wet and some of the ore heaps had collapsed.

[4] On 26 December, Finn-Baltic continued its journey south past the lighthouses of Nordvalen and Kaskinen while maintaining an average speed of 6–7 knots in heavy head seas.

In daylight the chief officer noticed that in the forward part of the cargo compartment three or four ore piles had collapsed to half of their original height and the others appeared to be wet.

He also noted to the pilot that the cargo was probably wet because water had been splashing over the bow since leaving Raahe and suggested stopping at Hanko to wait for the weather to calm down.

[4] While there were no external witnesses of the capsizing of Finn-Baltic, it was noticed by several people on the shore shortly afterwards and the rescue operation began within minutes of the accident even though the ship had not sent a distress signal.

Finn-Baltic was also photographed only minutes before the combination capsized by a harbour worker, who remembered hearing a rumbling sound, like a freight train, shortly after taking the picture of the ship.

The rising water column carried the chief officer upwards in the staircase until, only seconds from drowning, he arrived at the corridor next to the ship's sauna, which was below the main deck and thus above the surface.

Even before the accident the chief engineer had planned to find his way to this location in case the vessel capsized because there was no double bottom and, once free of its cargo, the combination would stay afloat upside-down.

When MRSC Hanko asked for a helicopter, MRCC Helsinki dispatched OH-HVE, a Finnish Border Guard Agusta-Bell AB 412 that had already been at high readiness at Helsinki-Malmi Airport after another vessel, Transgermania, had declared an emergency after grounding outside the island of Utö in the Gulf of Finland.

When they were told that the rescuers were not sure yet if it was safe, the crewmen informed the divers that they were not in immediate danger although the air was becoming hard to breadth due to oil fumes.

When the detached parts of the superstructure were recovered for official investigation in late February, the body of the first mate was found in the remains of the machinery room located below the bridge.

[4] According to the investigation board the capsizing of Finn-Baltic was a direct result of cargo shifting, caused by the bottom layer of the ore concentrate becoming saturated with water and liquefying.

When the vessel encountered heavy seas and began to roll, the cargo in the forward part of the hold shifted, resulting in a permanent list of roughly two degrees.

When the crew attempted to turn the combination against the wind, a standard procedure in such situation, the remaining cargo moved as a single mass due to the centrifugal force, sliding against the port side coamings and capsizing the vessel.

[4] The accident led to operational changes in loading and shipping of certain types of cargo, namely iron ore concentrates — a wind limit of 14 metres per second (27 kn) was imposed on the Finnpusku system when carrying MAF.

[14] Later it was found out that the pusher-barge combinations shipped the iron ore concentrate from Luleå under an exceptional permit from the Finnish Maritime Administration that did not extend to transportations south from Raahe.

However, the low metacentric height of the pusher, only 0.5–0.6 m (1.6–2.0 ft), results in large roll amplitudes and pitching, making the vessel very uncomfortable in severe weather.

[18] Propulsion power is provided by two six-cylinder Sulzer 6ZAL40 4-stroke medium-speed diesel engines running on heavy fuel oil, manufactured under licence by Wärtsilä, each with a maximum continuous output of 3,840 kW (5,150 hp) at 380 rpm, giving the combination a service speed of 13.4 knots (24.8 km/h; 15.4 mph).