MV Taiko was a roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) freighter managed by the Norwegian-Swedish shipping line Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics.

She was built as Barber Hector by Hyundai Heavy Industries at Ulsan, South Korea in 1984 for Blue Funnel Line, part of the Liverpool company Ocean Transport & Trading Ltd, and was Blue Funnel's last newbuilding.

[6] Built to carry RoRo cargoes and containers, the ship initially had a tonnage of 27,990 GT.

[1] In December 2013, Taiko was hired by the Norwegian Government to transport Syrian chemical weapons abroad for destruction, involving also the Danish cargo ship Ark Futura, under protection of the Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen-class frigate HNoMS Helge Ingstad and the Danish Absalon-class support ship HDMS Esbern Snare as well as Chinese, Russian and British warships.

[10] Taiko loaded chemicals at the Syrian port of Latakia, for transport to Finland and the USA for destruction.