Stena Line, a Swedish ferry company, launched its first next generation RoPax vessel at the Avic Weihai Shipyard in China. The first new vessel, to be named Stena Estrid, sailed for the first time on January 16. The vessel is to start service on the Dublin to Holyhead route in early 2020.
Mainly, the RoPax vessel is the first out of three new E-Flexer vessels to voyage to the Irish Sea by 2021. The other two vessels from the series will be running the line between Belfast and Liverpool.
On the same day, the shipyard hosted the keel-laying of the third vessel from the series.
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Moreover, Stena RoRo, sister company to Stena Lines, is the one managing all the E-Flexer building projects that are taking place on Avic Weihai Shipyard.
Overall, Stena RoRo has ordered eight Stena E-Flexer class vessels with the Chinese AVIC Weihai Shipyard from the timeframe 2016-2018. Also, the company will manage five E-Flexer vessels, two of which are an extended design.
According to the company’s press release, the three vessels that are being built to service in the Irish Sea are to be larger than today’s usual RoPax vessels, at 215 metres length and a freight capacity of 3,100 lane meters and the space to carry 120 cars and 1,000 passengers.
Moreover, the two E-Flexer RoPax vessels with a larger design are to be added in Stena Lines’ fleet in 2022. These larger ships will be 240 meters long and will have a total freight capacity of 3,600 lane meters, and passenger capacity of 1,200.
The remaining new-builds, Brittany Ferries has hired two vessels, including the one for which a keel was laid yesterday. The duo will complement the company’s current fleet of freight and passenger vessels, travelling between Portsmouth in the UK and Bilbao and Santander in Spain.
Finally, Stena Line CEO Niclas Mårtensson added that
The Stena Estrid successfully completed its float out manoeuvre from dry dock at the Avic Shipyard and now enters a busy phase of works ahead of its Irish Sea launch early next year.
