Feature, Freight News, Sea

Bigger Irish Sea ship for Stena

[ December 5, 2014   //   Chris ]

Stena Line will increase capacity on its Dublin to Holyhead service in early 2015 by replacing the Stena Nordica with a larger ropax vessel, Stena Superfast X – a sister ship of the Superfast VII and VIII ships which it currently operates on the Irish Sea. She has almost 2 km of lane space and capacity for up to 1,200 passengers.

Stena Line’s route manager (Irish Sea South) said: “By introducing a much larger ship onto the route, we are demonstrating our confidence and commitment to a trade and tourism gateway which will play a key part in helping to drive forward the economies on both sides of the Irish Sea.  In the last five years alone Stena Line has invested over £250m across its Irish Sea operations and we are confident that the improving economic climate in Ireland and Britain will show that this significant resource commitment has been extremely well timed.”    

Superfast X is currently being modified and fully refitted before taking up her position on the service.

The Stena Hibernia is meanwhile celebrating the first anniversary of her debut on the Liverpool (Birkenhead) to Belfast route. The Stena Hibernia joined the service in November 2013 to complement the Stena Lagan and Stena Mersey to help cope with increased demand for freight capacity on this route.

Richard Horswill, Stena Line’s Head of Freight UK and Ireland said he had been “thrilled by the response” adding: “We have worked with our customers to develop the service to suit their needs and in doing so, earlier this year we altered the timetable so that the first sailing of the week left Belfast at 15.00hrs on a Monday instead of 03.00hrs on a Tuesday from Liverpool – as we identified Monday afternoon as a key sailing time for our customers.”

The Stena Hibernia, which has capacity for 12 drivers and 110 unaccompanied units, operates eight sailings per week.

Tags: Stena