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Anybody know the capacities (vehicles, persons, cabins etc) of this ship? that might help to work out where she will be deployed.

From the photo, she doesn't look to have much passenger area, so I guess she will primarily be handling freight.

She is a sister of the Stena Lagan/Mersey and also Celtic Horizon and so from the first "run" of production of the flexbow Visentini's. For more info this is the page for the current Celtic Horizon (Cartour Beta) http://www.naos-design.com/en/design-en/44-p244-cartour-beta.html.   IIRC Cartour Gamma was the last of the 4 sisters of the original flexbow generation, with later ships having slightly modified designs (Scottish Viking, Norman Asturias, Scintu, etc).

Personally I think Ireland - Spain (or France) makes sense.  These are ships more or less designed for Motorway of the Seas work after all.  Maybe Pembroke - Rosslare with the Inishmore going North would be possible but I just don't see her operating to Dublin as these ships are stern loading freight movers (with a bit of passenger accommodation reliant on the fact that passengers will spend most of their time asleep in a cabin - I couldn't personally see the Stena Lagan coping well with Stena Superfast passenger levels for example) but a refit could rectify the accommodation issues. 

There are probably cheaper options out there for a short sea freight mover (European Seaway for example has only about 200m less capacity and is a bow and stern loader), can anyone think of a Visentini ropax which operates a 3-4hr crossing?  The other possibility is she replaces Oscar (more economical?) which then moves elsewhere either for IF or chartered out to another operator.

On a related note, what where the issues with the Stena Forwarder which made her unsuitable for the Holyhead run?  I would imagine Cartour Gamma might have similar issues?  I wonder what the minimum turnaround time on one of these ships is?

Sorry, just realised it is Cartour Epsilon we are talking about not Cartour Gamma.  Epsilon was built in 2011 and is a sister to Cartour Delta and AFAIK Visemar One.  She has less passenger accommodation than the Lagan/Mersey but can handle even more freight and has a slightly deeper draught.

Anybody know the capacities (vehicles, persons, cabins etc) of this ship? that might help to work out where she will be deployed.

From the photo, she doesn't look to have much passenger area, so I guess she will primarily be handling freight.

She is a sister of the Stena Lagan/Mersey and also Celtic Horizon and so from the first "run" of production of the flexbow Visentini's. For more info this is the page for the current Celtic Horizon (Cartour Beta) http://www.naos-design.com/en/design-en/44-p244-cartour-beta.html.   IIRC Cartour Gamma was the last of the 4 sisters of the original flexbow generation, with later ships having slightly modified designs (Scottish Viking, Norman Asturias, Scintu, etc).

Personally I think Ireland - Spain (or France) makes sense.  These are ships more or less designed for Motorway of the Seas work after all.  Maybe Pembroke - Rosslare with the Inishmore going North would be possible but I just don't see her operating to Dublin as these ships are stern loading freight movers (with a bit of passenger accommodation reliant on the fact that passengers will spend most of their time asleep in a cabin - I couldn't personally see the Stena Lagan coping well with Stena Superfast passenger levels for example) but a refit could rectify the accommodation issues. 

There are probably cheaper options out there for a short sea freight mover (European Seaway for example has only about 200m less capacity and is a bow and stern loader), can anyone think of a Visentini ropax which operates a 3-4hr crossing?  The other possibility is she replaces Oscar (more economical?) which then moves elsewhere either for IF or chartered out to another operator.

On a related note, what where the issues with the Stena Forwarder which made her unsuitable for the Holyhead run?  I would imagine Cartour Gamma might have similar issues?  I wonder what the minimum turnaround time on one of these ships is?

something like this might be nice


decided to fire up the old isle of inishturk name for it and all

Nice, but at this rate all the Visentini's will be operating on the Irish Sea shortly!  Given Forwarders unsuitability would a Visentini be a good idea?

or in the back of a russian ford transit

That would be a GAZ GAZelle.  Pretty rare in Ireland I would have thought but you never know!  Perhaps its what damaged the barrier as a result of its eastern bloc underpinnings  failing ;D

So does Anyone actually have any IF news lol

Could be to do with timekeeping but if having to overcome strong winds or rough seas this would slow the ship down too I guess.  Was crossing time similar?

Not only did both operate from Rosslare , but they both worked for Stena Line at one time .on this page you will find pictures of Stena Europe and Stena Normandy see if you can spot the difference http://www.irish-ferries-enthusiasts.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1236730733/15#15
Below from www.shipspotting.com , both sisters at Rosslare.

Great pic btw  :)

Wee update from Scott Mackey on flickr

Stena Adventurer refurbishment
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottmackey/sets/72157623457108720/

Stena Lagan
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottmackey/sets/72157625811741177/

The most recent shots are at the beginning of each of the above sets.

Some Superfast sailings cancelled up here today with delays on other sailings, no doubt due to the weather.  Birkenhead ships sailed but 60 mins late IIRC.

The Alegra will be going a lot further than Falmouth as it has been chartered to Interislander to provide cover for the Aratere in New Zealand.

http://www.stenaroro.com/offering/Pages/Stena-Alegra.aspx

https://www.interislander.co.nz/Timetable/Disruption-Message-From-Interislander-28-NOV.aspx

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/229211/kiwirail-confirms-ferry-replacement

A ship with no fin stabilisers operating on one of the roughest stretches of water in the world - what are the chances of her being nicknamed "The Vomit Comet"!  Good to see her finding work so quickly though.

Wow!  Why would anyone want to pay a premium (apart from an enthusiast of course lol) to travel on a ship with more limited facilities???  Next they will be declaring she is a cruiseferry ;) !

Its a shame they didn't do the full livery, perhaps suggests she may return to BF in the shorter term if things don't work out which would add weight to the chat that she is only initially on a one year charter.  If anything she should be in the blue freight livery as she isn't carrying passengers. 

The new Stena Baltica although having a very low passenger capacity is bookable by regular passengers and not an exclusive freight vessel, though the onboard experience would be very different from that offered by the Stena Spirit/Vision.

Wasn't bookable when I tried earlier but perhaps theres a bug in the system or it was being updated.  I believe she can carry 200 pax, i'm sure some wouldn't mind sailing on her if the price was reduced accordingly to compensate for the lack of facilities!  Would be very disappointed though if pricing was the same for passengers as the Spirit/Vision though

Its a shame they didn't do the full livery, perhaps suggests she may return to BF in the shorter term if things don't work out which would add weight to the chat that she is only initially on a one year charter.  If anything she should be in the blue freight livery as she isn't carrying passengers. 

Nordica and Europe both cancelled tonight AFAIK.  Both Superfast VIII and Stena Hibernia have just left Belfast, both late.  It was really rough up here this afternoon - Belfast lough looked like open sea.  Stena Lagan looks like she's running a little behind getting into Belfast

Dont think anyone actually officially knows yet.  French news sources are saying chartered because Stena weren't prepared to match BF's valuation however this was a while back and theres been nothing since apart from this arrticle http://www.lemarin.fr/articles/detail/items/le-cotentin-de-brittany-ferries-sous-les-couleurs-de-stena.html which says its a 12 month charter though Stena's route manager recently spoke of the new Baltica as a "long term solution".  Could be a charter with option to purchase, or something else as well. 

I wouldn't be surprised if we see another BF ship moving on (not saying this based on any specific information btw) as its no secret that direct and indirect government subsidy has been the difference between profit and loss at BF for a quite few years now (allegedly the purchase and charter of the ships is subsidized by local authorities due to a "different interpretation" of EU law than the UK has, and the company has also received state aid from the French government on more than one occasion).  We have already seen BF upset the French unions in an effort to cut costs at the end of last year as well as rejigging their timetable to increase vessel utilisation, and the Barfleur was also out on charter recently. As governments and local authorities across Europe look to cut costs perhaps BF's additional revenue streams might start to dry up.  Mind you, there is talk of a BF new build over at BF enthusiasts.

I hope Contentin/Stena Baltica does well on her new route and stays with Stena for some time.  There is also scope for her to be converted into a passenger ship as well so she has some "stenability" as well.  Just a pity the yard that built her wont be around much longer!

Cotentin is now Stena Baltica on AIS, new paint job should be finished during the week.

Although its only been a few weeks its seems to have taken forever for her to renamed!