Stena Line fleet movements

Started by Collision-course, October 12, 2008, 04:54:51 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

ferryfan

Adventurer had some tech issues last night she left Dublin this morning running over 2 hours late.

giftgrub

Latest Stena Line fleet guide on below link

http://www.mypaper.se/html5/customer/91/11795/?page=22

Details of 2018 vessels for all routes incl return of Stena Forerunner to Stena service.

seaman

Decision done! Stena Line will move out of Varberg in 2019

https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/halland/klart-stena-flyttar-fran-varberg

With that i am pretty sure we can see some ship movements/fleet change in a while...

giftgrub

Stena Europe appears to be on a cruise around Wexford harbour this evening, was running late anyway, no obvious reason why it didn't go to dock in Rosslare

giftgrub

#2209
Quote from: giftgrub on December 15, 2017, 09:15:10 PM
Stena Europe appears to be on a cruise around Wexford harbour this evening, was running late anyway, no obvious reason why it didn't go to dock in Rosslare

Ferrycheck now reporting technical issue, hopefully something they can fix quickly, going to be a busy couple of weeks and the Europe normally performs very well this time of the year.

From Ferrycheck

"The Stena Europe at 1810 this evening was cancelled due to technical problems."

(Europe only on way into Rosslare now should be on berth by 23.00 - needs to skip a rotation to get back on schedule)

Tonight's return to Fishguard cancelled, sailing again at 8am, tonight's 23.45 Fishguard passenger to divert to
02.45 Pembroke crossing

From Ferrycheck

"Due to severe adverse weather the 2345hrs sailing has been cancelled. Passengers with reservations will be accommodated on the 0245hrs IRISH FERRIES PEMBROKE SAILING. Please make your way directly to PEMBROKE DOCK and quote your stenaline reference. PEMBROKE DOCK PORT CODE IS SA726TW"



TC

It's a pity Stena don't push the route a little more.

Irish Ferries seem to be the dominant operator on the Rosslare to Wales operation. Stena have gone from Konningin Beatrix & Stena Lynx III, to Stena Europe & Stena Lynx III, now just to a rather ancient Stena Europe, which has about half the freight capacity of Isle of Inishmore.

I'm sure if Stena modernised Fishguard harbour, and brought in an efficient passenger / freighter eg Stena Nordica, they could attract more clients to the route.

P&O have operated Stena Nordica's sisters on the Larne to Cairnryan route since the 2000s, and both vessels are proving as popular - if not more than their Stena counterparts. Nordica may not be huge from a passenger perspective, but she is very efficient and would probably help secure the future of the route.



hhvferry

Quote from: TC on December 16, 2017, 12:05:49 AM
It's a pity Stena don't push the route a little more.

Irish Ferries seem to be the dominant operator on the Rosslare to Wales operation. Stena have gone from Konningin Beatrix & Stena Lynx III, to Stena Europe & Stena Lynx III, now just to a rather ancient Stena Europe, which has about half the freight capacity of Isle of Inishmore.

I'm sure if Stena modernised Fishguard harbour, and brought in an efficient passenger / freighter eg Stena Nordica, they could attract more clients to the route.

P&O have operated Stena Nordica's sisters on the Larne to Cairnryan route since the 2000s, and both vessels are proving as popular - if not more than their Stena counterparts. Nordica may not be huge from a passenger perspective, but she is very efficient and would probably help secure the future of the route.
Both operators sail with mostly empty freight decks so I'm not sure that getting a vessel with more garage capacity is of great importance. Unfortunately the Wales-Rosslare market has declined from its peak and it's difficult to justify much in the way of new investment for either operator.

As for P&O's Larne ships being more popular than the Stena Superfasts, I'll just leave that one there. Although P&O have clawed a bit back recently and the freight market isn't as lopsided, the passenger traffic stats show the reality.

TC

You must remember though, European Highlander & European Causeway only have about 30% of the passenger capacity of the Superfast's, so I don't think passenger numbers are a fair way of assessing the popularity of Larne. P&O are not part of SailRail and Ulsterbus use the Belfast service, which all inflates Stena's numbers.

From a freight & efficiency perspective P&O's twins certainly have the upper hand on their thirsty Germanic rivals.

I still think it is a pity, Stena haven't pushed the Fishguard route a little more. It's a relatively short crossing and does indeed have rail connections.

As it stands currently, I would imagine Isle of Inishmore is the preferred vessel for freight / hauliers. I'm not knowledgeable of the fares for freight users on the Fishguard / Pembroke routes, but I would think Irish Ferries can offer better rates to clients, simply by having more capacity and a more efficient, more modern vessel.

I would have thought it would be in Stena's interest to undercut Irish Ferries, by having a leaner vessel than Isle of Inishmore, that allows them to offer freight clients better fares. Stena Nordica is hardly a major investment - a nearly eighteen year-old vessel (with better running costs over Stena Europe), replacing a ship that not far of forty years!

Despite her age, I am confident Stena Europe will keep sailing for another decade, however I would hope 2018 will be her last season at Rosslare. From what I have gathered, Stena Europe gets cancelled and has tech problems far more often than Isle of Inishmore - which certainly doesn't help the popularity of the route.

Steven

#2213
Quote from: TC on December 16, 2017, 01:42:55 PM
You must remember though, European Highlander & European Causeway only have about 30% of the passenger capacity of the Superfast's, so I don't think passenger numbers are a fair way of assessing the popularity of Larne. P&O are not part of SailRail and Ulsterbus use the Belfast service, which all inflates Stena's numbers.

From a freight & efficiency perspective P&O's twins certainly have the upper hand on their thirsty Germanic rivals.

I still think it is a pity, Stena haven't pushed the Fishguard route a little more. It's a relatively short crossing and does indeed have rail connections.

As it stands currently, I would imagine Isle of Inishmore is the preferred vessel for freight / hauliers. I'm not knowledgeable of the fares for freight users on the Fishguard / Pembroke routes, but I would think Irish Ferries can offer better rates to clients, simply by having more capacity and a more efficient, more modern vessel.

I would have thought it would be in Stena's interest to undercut Irish Ferries, by having a leaner vessel than Isle of Inishmore, that allows them to offer freight clients better fares. Stena Nordica is hardly a major investment - a nearly eighteen year-old vessel (with better running costs over Stena Europe), replacing a ship that not far of forty years!

Despite her age, I am confident Stena Europe will keep sailing for another decade, however I would hope 2018 will be her last season at Rosslare. From what I have gathered, Stena Europe gets cancelled and has tech problems far more often than Isle of Inishmore - which certainly doesn't help the popularity of the route.

The passenger numbers of old just aren't there on the Southern Corridor unfortunately.  Much of the blame can be laid at the door of package holidays and budget airlines.  Freight carryings aren't exactly stellar either.  It could be argued that the money that would be used to promote the Fishguard route more is better put to use elsewhere where there is a larger pie to get a slice of in the first place. 

With regards to the North Channel, freight carrying are still pretty neck and neck to my knowledge.  Stena no longer make their freight statistics available on a monthly basis, like Irish Ferries, but P&O's increase is in the very low single digits last I saw.  Do remember also P&O need more sailings to take their share of traffic, and don't get the passenger revenue Stena do.  Yes they have more efficient vessels, but they have to sail them more often, sometimes with not much on them from what I have heard.
Steve in Belfast (suburbia)

Flickr: www.flickr.com/tarbyonline

giftgrub

Stena Europe back on schedule since this morning, apparently an engine issue caused last nights delays but today's speed is all back to normal.

On the bigger issue of the future of the southern corridor, one major issue that is going to play into both operators hands is the congestion on the M50 in the greater Dublin area, unless you are shipping goods to Dublin, if they are required in the southern area ( South of Naas) it will become easier to ship through Wexford, obviously still a big chunk of freight will use the central corridor but a good percentage could be sent through Rosslare.

Keeping this forum thread on track if we need to discuss Southern corridor issues, a new thread can be created.

Also in relation to Stena Nordica and Rosslare, the passenger capacity is too small for the route during the summer, plenty of lane meters but not enough space for the self loading freight (cars and their passengers), I would guess that when Superfast X is displaced at Holyhead by one of the new E-Flexer we could see it on the southern corridor, it will fit in Rosslare and a few tweaks in Fishguard will allow side loading.

Given the level of buzz IF are going to get with Wb Yeats I would not be surprised to see first of the Chinese ships in Dublin, the next two then heading to Birkenhead route.

MVW85

i hear rumour that when stena do move their berths in the next few years we could see one of the Dutch ships on the route, seeing how much freight traffic includingdrops that are going through Holyhead it wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility

seaman

To be honest, i think the Dutch ferries will stay on the Hook-Harwich route for a very long time.

But there has been a rumour from a friend of mine, who works for Stena Line. The rumour is that when Stena Line will move down to Halmstad from Varberg they might need a ferry with a bigger passenger and freight capacity and a bit more cabins when sailing from Halmstad to GrenĂ¥ in Denmark in 2019, and the source say that Stena Europe might replace the Nautica on the GrenĂ¥ route and the Nautica would be transferred to Fishguard instead....

marthyrarth

Isn't the Nautica a bit restricted pax capacity wise for Summer - only 6oo pax following conversion, though I suppose they could convert upper car deck to accomm as it once was.

Any news re Stena refits 2018?

PaddyL

Quote from: MVW85 on December 16, 2017, 11:52:30 PM
i hear rumour that when stena do move their berths in the next few years we could see one of the Dutch ships on the route, seeing how much freight traffic includingdrops that are going through Holyhead it wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility

The ships are sailing full at Harwich most of the time so I can't see that happening.

Best bet is the first Chinese newbuild going to Holyhead.

marthyrarth

Maybe they could build new ships for Harwich?