Stena Line increases Irish Sea freight capacity with two new vessels

Stena Line
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Stena Line, one of Europe’s leading ferry operators and the largest ferry operator on the Irish Sea, is expanding its Belfast-Heysham cargo service with two all-new hybrid-powered cargo vessels. Construction of the two “NewMax” bespoke vessels is due to begin shortly and the vessels will be launched in the Irish Sea in 2025. Each vessel, designed to run on methanol, will offer 2,800 lane metres, an 80% increase over current vessel capacities. The new ships will also be equipped to carry 12 passengers and 26 crew members. Stena Line was the first ferry operator to run a ferry on methanol when the Stena Germanica was rebuilt in 2015.

Stena Line is currently working closely with the methanol supply chain to secure future volumes of e-methanol to meet its strategic goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 30% by 2030. Another priority during construction was to future-proof the vessels for electrification by providing onboard technologies that can utilise both battery power and shore power where available. The vessels will also be equipped with a bespoke marine technology configuration to be more resilient to the prevailing weather conditions unique to the Heysham route.

The company is committed to sustainability and expanding the Belfast-Heysham cargo service demonstrates its strategy to switch to new sustainable fuels. The “NewMax” ships meet the growing demand from customers and offer significant capacity to enable logistics operators to expand their businesses in the region. The new vessels are due to enter service on the route in the autumn of 2025 and will operate from Stena Line’s port of Belfast. The shipping company also offers a direct service from Rosslare to Cherbourg and will launch a modernised ship on this route in summer 2023, making this route the busiest connection from Ireland to France with 12 weekly sailings.

Tags: Propulsion,Maritime,Methanol,Sustainability,Irish Sea,Stena Line,Ferry,Cargo,Cargo,Ship,Fuels, Marine Engineering ,logistics,motor,design


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