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First new Stena ship will sail from Holyhead
[ June 13, 2018 // Chris ]Stena Line has confirmed that the first of its new ro pax ferries currently under construction in China will enter service on its Holyhead-Dublin route in early 2020.
It will have capacity for 3,100 freight lane meters and offer four4 daily sailings with an estimated crossing time of approximately 3½ hours.
It follows last year’s announcement by parent company Stena of a contract for a new generation of vessels, Stena E-Flexer, with planned deliveries during 2020 and 2021. Stena has six new vessels from the AVIC Shipyard in China and the plan is to locate three of these ships on Stena Line´s Irish Sea routes. The other three will be chartered out to external parties by Stena Line’s sister company Stena RoRo.
Stena Line chief executive Niclas Mårtensson said: “Our Irish Sea routes are strategically very important to Stena Line and our customer, with the freight market between Ireland and UK experiencing significant growth over the last five years. That’s why we have invested almost £200m in our ports and vessels across the region to improve and grow our capacity to offer a frequent, reliable and high-quality service for our customers.”
He added that the deployment of three new vessels “is a tangible example of our strategic growth plan for the Irish Sea.”
He also confirmed that two other vessels will be assigned to the Belfast – Liverpool service planned for spring of 2020 and early 2021.
Stena Line trade director Irish Sea South, Ian Davies, commented: “Freight volumes have surpassed the Celtic Tiger peaks of 2007 and we are confident that this upward trend will continue. 2017 was a record year for Stena Line in the Irish Sea where we carried over 800,000 freight units on our routes to and from the Island of Ireland.”
He said that the new ship would significantly increase freight capacity on the Holyhead-Dublin route and raise service standards for customers.
Niclas Mårtensson said that the new ferries will be among the most energy efficient in the world with significantly lower CO2 emissions per freight unit against comparable tonnage.
They will run on traditional fuel but are designed to be ‘gas ready’ and are also prepared for catalytic scrubbers to ensure flexibility for the future.
Niall Gibbons of Tourism Ireland (left) and Ian Davies, Stena Lines trade director, Irish Sea South.