Stena signs contract for four new RoPax ferries - To be worlds most efficient.

[Steven]

Stena signs contract for four new RoPax ferries
- Will be the most fuel efficient ferries in the world

Stena has signed a contract, subject to Board approval by the end of April, for an order of four new RoPax ferries with planned delivery during 2019 and 2020, with an option for another four vessels. The vessels will be optimized for efficiency and flexibility and will be built by AVIC Shipyard in China.  The intention is that the four initial vessels will be used within Stena Lines route network in Northern Europe.

"We are very pleased that Stena have signed a contract for four vessels with an option for another four. During the course of the past 24 months our engineering staff has managed to develop a design that is not only 50% larger than today's standard RoPax vessels, but more importantly, incorporates the emission reduction and efficiency initiatives that have been developed throughout the Stena Group during the past years. These ships will be the most fuel efficient ferries in the world and will set a new industry standard when it comes to operational performance, emissions and cost competitiveness, positioning Stena Line to support its customers in the next decades", says Carl-Johan Hagman, Managing Director of Stena Line.

The vessels will have a capacity of more than 3 000 lane meters in a drive-through configuration and will accommodate about 1 000 passengers and offer a full range of passenger services.  The main engines will be "gas ready", prepared to be fueled by either methanol or LNG.

"With this investment we are building on our successful RoPax concept mixing freight and passengers. Through standardization we secure a reliable operation and through flexibility we can provide an even better support to our customers and help them to grow", says Carl-Johan Hagman.

"We foresee a continued demand growth for short sea services in Northern Europe and in many other parts of the world.  Ferry transportation will play an essential part in shaping tomorrow's logistics infrastructure if we are to have sustainable societies.  Not only is transportation on sea the most environmentally efficient way of moving goods, it is also infrastructure that provides reliable and speedy logistics with very limited public cost. Through this investment we prepare Stena Line for further growth", says Dan Sten Olsson, Chairman in Stena Line.

EDIT: Posted here to keep discussion off the fleet movements thread in the news section (where I have also posted this). I'll update (and encourage others to) this thread as we find out more information over the next 3 to 4 years regarding the details. 

[seaman]

My thoughts are that this will be the end for Stena Europe, Danica etc. In other words, the 80's vessels are being swapped now

[welsh weather]

At the end of the day they cannot keep these ships going for ever - they will eventually become to expensive, unfit for purpose (the Stena Europe is already starting to become unfit) or just wear out

[welsh weather]

here is what is what the ships will look like:

[PaddyL]

I am sure they will go to routes that are already in high demand like Belfast - Cairnryan, Belfast - Birkenhead and Holyhead - Dublin.

[welsh weather]

I am sure they will go to routes that are already in high demand like Belfast - Cairnryan, Belfast - Birkenhead and Holyhead - Dublin.

They will but places like Fishguard will have the current ships.

[ferryfan]

Don't forget the charters on Superfast 6& 7 expire in 2019 so they are likely candidates for replacing.

[Steven]

Don't forget the charters on Superfast 6& 7 expire in 2019 so they are likely candidates for replacing.

Its also possible they could get another extension though.  I doubt Tallink would argue against having a guaranteed income from them.  Certainly loadings on the central corridor and diagonal route are consistently higher, so I would imagine if they intend to put the ships there anyway they would get them before Cairnryan to take advantage of the higher freight capacity and start paying for themselves.  The announcement was (rightly so given delivery is 3 or 4 years away) pretty vague.  It will be interesting in any case to see what the final vessels which emerge are like. I think Stena have been very wise in maximising their options regarding fuel.

[RorieLen]

If we look at this in terms of a business mindset and considering demand and supply: these new ships will go where they are needed within Stena Line's business. We can, therefore, probably glean they will be deployed to routes where capacity is currently constrained, especially for freight. I'm no expert but I travel quite a bit and the Birkenhead-Belfast and Holyhead-Dublin routes would seem to be likely contenders based on this?!

Good news to see a company act to solve something of the tonnage crisis looming as ships get older and older...

[PaddyL]

If we look at this in terms of a business mindset and considering demand and supply: these new ships will go where they are needed within Stena Line's business. We can, therefore, probably glean they will be deployed to routes where capacity is currently constrained, especially for freight. I'm no expert but I travel quite a bit and the Birkenhead-Belfast and Holyhead-Dublin routes would seem to be likely contenders based on this?!

Good news to see a company act to solve something of the tonnage crisis looming as ships get older and older...

Agreed.

Of the other UK operators Brittany Ferries is the only other making any sounds of replacing tonnage.

I know P&O are rumoured to be looking at replacing the remaining older passenger ships at Dover with 2 new Spirits but they still have 2 real old bangers at Hull to deal with and Norbay/Norbank are close to the end of their lives.  By the time they do all that, even the Highlander/Causeway and Rotterdam pair will be near replacement.

Irish Ferries have the Oscar Wilde to deal and even the Swift is nearing retirement in fast ferry terms.  If the Epsilon goes I would imagine major changes.

DFDS have quite a few old ships, in UK waters there is the King, Princess and Calais Seaways for starters.

The list goes on...and if we look to Baltic look at say the Viking Line fleet.

Anyhow I digress, well done to Stena for showing the industry how it's done (again!).

[giftgrub]

Good news on the fleet order today, apparently usd $80 million per ship. Hopefully this will lead to the four options being taken up and deployed in the Stena Line route network.

Also the history of Stena Line / RoRo orders and shipyards is quite interesting, the last  order for Hollandica/Britannica ended up with the shipyard changing hands several times, the Spirit/Vision ended up much delayed and two hulls completed by the shipyard for Stena, one finished in Greece, other scrapped. The Danica/Jutlandica orders in early 80's much delayed.

However Adventurer/Britannica and Stena Transit/Transporter came through bang on time.


http://www.sjofartstidningen.se/stororder-fran-stena/

[hhvferry]

Good news on the fleet order today, apparently usd $80 million per ship. Hopefully this will lead to the four options being taken up and deployed in the Stena Line route network.

Also the history of Stena Line / RoRo orders and shipyards is quite interesting, the last  order for Hollandica/Britannica ended up with the shipyard changing hands several times, the Spirit/Vision ended up much delayed and two hulls completed by the shipyard for Stena, one finished in Greece, other scrapped. The Danica/Jutlandica orders in early 80's much delayed.

However Adventurer/Britannica and Stena Transit/Transporter came through bang on time.


http://www.sjofartstidningen.se/stororder-fran-stena/

The list of shipyards which have gone bust building for Stena is fascinating - add to the above the Spanish yard which built the first variants of the Stena Forerunner class. I suspect it's a combination of Stena screwing inexperienced yards on price, having watertight contracts and then having a very savvy, experienced technical team who insist on everything being done to a high standard that the yards struggle to achieve within the price they've quoted.

[PaddyL]

I am sure they will go to routes that are already in high demand like Belfast - Cairnryan, Belfast - Birkenhead and Holyhead - Dublin.

They will but places like Fishguard will have the current ships.

I am not sure what can even be moved to Fishguard?

[giftgrub]

Same company that managed the build of P&O Sprit of Britain / France managing the new builds

http://www.deltamarin.com/2016/04/deltamarin-designs-supports-construction-stena-ferry-built-china/



Fishguard can take nearly any of the current fleet, however route fit will be dictated by cost of port/ship modifications, eg a Visentini would require a much wider ramp to allow loading and the side load ramp to be moved, years of speculation ahead....

[Steven]

Same company that managed the build of P&O Sprit of Britain / France managing the new builds

http://www.deltamarin.com/2016/04/deltamarin-designs-supports-construction-stena-ferry-built-china/



Fishguard can take nearly any of the current fleet, however route fit will be dictated by cost of port/ship modifications, eg a Visentini would require a much wider ramp to allow loading and the side load ramp to be moved, years of speculation ahead....

Unless something has significantly changed 180m is the max Fishguard can take so far as I am aware.  That could maybe be pushed a bit to take a 186m Visentini, but accommodating a 203m long superfast (if they somehow found a way of justifying the operating of such a vessel) would be a different matter. In any case, I think Paddys point is possibly much to do with the fact that at present Stena can't fill Europe - how can they justify putting an even larger vessel on the link which would be better utilised elsewhere?

Deltamarin have been behind a lot of the recent ferries in operation around the UK and Ireland.  Ulysses for a start, Pont Aven, Mont St Michel, Amorique, Both Seafrance newbuilds, Stena's Seabridgers, etc so they definitely know what they are doing with ferries.  They also happen to be a part of the same group as the shipyard.  Stena roro will also be keeping a very close eye on things in any case and have plenty of experience in these matters.

A point about the delays to the then Stena Germanica and Scandinavica.  Much of this delay was caused by the political unrest (much of which was centred around shipyards, from where the solidarity movement emerged after all) in then communist Poland at the time - hardly Stena's fault.  As for any yard that has gone bankrupt allegedly as a result of an order, surely it is the fault of the yard for quoting below cost rather than the shipowner who accepts the price offered? 

A good positive move by Stena here, and hopefully others will now follow suit.  They'll need to in my opinion as the Northern European ferry fleet just keeps getting older and older the longer it is left, while shipyard order books seemingly also get fuller and fuller.