Swedish ferry company Stena Line has held a steel cutting ceremony for the first of four RoPax vessels ordered in China.
The steel cutting was held at the AVIC Weihai Shipyard on August 25, 2017.
The vessels have a planned delivery timetable during 2019 and 2020 with Stena having an option to order a further four vessels as part of the overall contract.
The ferries, which are expected to be 50% larger than today’s standard RoPax vessels, will be placed on the Irish Sea routes. They will feature a length of 214.5 meters and a width of 27.8 meters and will be able to reach a speed of 22 knots.
With a capacity of more than 3,000 lane meters and an accommodation for 1,000 passengers, the ships are being built in line with Stena Line’s key strategic focus on sustainability, according to the company.
“The new RoPax vessels will be among the most fuel efficient in the world with approximately 25% lower CO2 emissions per cargo unit than comparable RoPax tonnage… The vessels will run on traditional fuel, but are designed to the class notation “gas ready” and are also prepared for scrubbers as well as catalytic converters, giving us even greater flexibility for the future,” Niclas Mårtensson, CEO of Stena Line , commented.