Stena Line has ordered for the construction of six vessels from Chinese AVIC Shipyard with plans to place three ships on its Irish Sea routes and charter the other three to external parties by Stena Line’s sister company Stena RoRo.
Stena’s build contract is for a for a new generation of RoPax ferry vessels, Stena E-Flexer. The vessels will hold 3,100 freight lane meters as well as 1,000 passengers and 120 cars. They will be able to operate four daily sailings with an estimated crossing time of 3.5 hours.
The first of these vessels will be used on Stena’s Holyhead – Dublin route in early 2020. The other two will serve Stena’s Liverpool-Belfast routes in the spring of 2020 and early 2021.
Owing to significant growth in the freight market between Ireland and UK over the past five years, Stena has invested almost £200 million in ports and vessels across the region to improve and grow its capacity, said Stena Line chief executive Niclas Mårtensson.
