Swedish ferry company Stena Line has reached an important milestone in its new fleet investment programme with the steel cutting of the third E-Flexer RoPax ship to be deployed on its Irish Sea routes.
With this development, the company said that its new E-Flexer ships, planned to enter into service on the Irish Sea during 2020 and 2021, are on schedule and under construction at the AVIC Weihai Shipyard in China.
The first of the new vessels will start operation on the Holyhead to Dublin route in early 2020, with the remaining two ships to be introduced on the Liverpool to Belfast route in 2020 and 2021.
“We are delighted to report that the steel cutting ceremony for the third of our Irish Sea E-Flexer ships has now taken place and that construction is going to plan across all three of our new generation RoPax vessels,” Peter Arvidsson, Stena Line Chief Operating Officer, said.
All three Irish Sea E-Flexer vessels will be bigger than today’s standard RoPax vessels at 215 meters long with a freight capacity of 3,100 lane meters and the space to carry 120 cars and 1,000 passengers.
Earlier this year, Stena Line ordered a further two E-Flexer RoPax vessels with a larger design, to be deployed within Stena Line’s network in 2022. Ordered in July 2018, these larger ships will be 240 meters long with a total freight capacity of 3,600 lane meters, and passenger capacity of 1,200.
“With continued investment in our fleet, we want to lead the development of sustainable shipping and set new industry standards when it comes to operational performance, emissions and cost competitiveness,” Arvidsson added.