Galicia Fast Facts
| Current Name: Galicia | Previous Names: Stena E-Flexer #3, Zhao Shang 267 (yard names) |
| Shipyard: China Merchants Jinling Weihai [CN], #W0267, | IMO Number: 9856189 |
| Current Operator: Brittany Ferries | Current Route: Portsmouth [GB] - Santander [ES] / Portsmouth [GB] - Cherbourg [FR] |
| Length Overall: | Beam: |
| Passenger Capacity: 1015 (plus 85 crew) | Vehicle Capacity: 3,100 lane metres or 155 trailers |
| Tonnage: | Sister-ships: N/A. Salamanca and Santoña [near sisters with LNG fuel]. Galicia is built to a modified version of Stena's E-Flexer platform as used on Stena Estrid, Stena Edda, and Stena Embla. |
Brittany Ferries Galicia – Passenger Facilities and Layout
Brittany Ferries brand-new Stena E-Flexer ferry, GALICIA, is expected to begin service next week on the Portsmouth – Santander route. GALICIA is the first of three similar new ferries joining the Brittany Ferries fleet between now and the end of 2023. The other two, SALAMANCA and SANTOÑA, are part-sisters to GALICIA and will be of similar layout. In addition to the Portsmouth – Santander route, GALICIA will also serve the Portsmouth – Cherbourg route from Spring 2021.
Following the official “virtual” launch of the ship to the press and public yesterday, we take a closer look at GALICIA and her facilities. Each of the three main passenger decks has a distinct theme; inspired by the region’s coastline, its towns and cities, and its countryside.
GALICIA‘s interior was designed by Richard Nilsson, who went so far as to listening to traditional local music while working on the project to immerse himself completely in the Galician theme. Richard was also responsible for the interior design on STENA ESTRID, STENA EDDA, and STENA EMBLA – albeit with a different brief.
In keeping with other Brittany Ferries vessels, a selection of specially commissioned artwork is displayed in the cabins, lounges and restaurants of GALICIA.
The Camino de Santiago, the ancient network of pilgrim’s ways which converge on Galicia’s capital Santiago de Compostela from across Europe, provides a subtle design theme across the entire ship.
Update 10.12.20: The deck plans below are as displayed onboard the ship and were supplied by Brittany Ferries themselves. Brittany Ferries has now released its ship guide which contains similar deck plans and some additional information. It can be downloaded in pdf format here.
Galicia – Deck 7 Deck Plan and Facilities
Deck 7 is one of two decks which house the enclosed public facilities onboard GALICIA. The deck is also one of three cabin decks on the ship. On deck 7 the cabin area is themed on Camino de la Playa – the Galician coast.
The main restaurant, Restaurant Azul, is located forward on the deck overlooking the bow of the ship.
A children’s play area, the first of three on GALICIA, is located towards the rear of the restaurant. Moving back there is a lounge area running along the port side of the ship, and two boutiques opposite. One of these boutiques will sell duty free goods.
Further back is the guest service deck and an interactive tourist information area/lounge. Deck 7 also has two outside decks, running alongside either side of the vessel. A pet exercise area is provided on the starboard side which also has access to GALICIA‘s fully enclosed and heated kennels. 12 kennels are provided in addition to the 22 “pet friendly” passenger cabins.
The aft part of deck 7 is dedicated to passenger cabins. This is in contrast to the Stena E-Flexer’s built for Stena Line which have a dedicated garage for cars here. Instead, passenger cars can be carried on deck 5, the starboard side of which has also has hoistable mezzanine deck (forming GALICIA‘s deck 6 when required). The 22 “pet friendly” cabins are housed on deck 7, as are a number of inside “standard” cabins, outside “comfort class” cabins, and three disabled cabins.
Galicia – Deck 8 Deck Plan and Facilities
Deck 8 is the second of the two decks which house the enclosed public facilities onboard GALICIA. The deck is also the second of the three cabin decks on the ship. On deck 8 the cabin area is inspired by Galicia’s towns and cities.
The forward area is occupied by the C-Club premium lounge. Panoramic windows give passengers views over the bow of the ship.
Immediately behind the C-Club is the reserved reclining seat lounge.
The second restaurant on GALICIA, Taberna de Tapas, is located to the starboard side with a lounge on the port side.
Further back, the second children’s play area is located on the port side. Opposite, and across a stairwell, is an exhibition area – The House of Las Meninas, billed as the home of the secrets of Spain’s most famous painting!
The main bar, Plaza Mayor, is located midships and is themed on the Galician capital Santiago de Compostela. Like her Stena Line part-sisters, GALICA‘s bar features a large atrium.
Two lounge spaces are located either side of the rear of the Plaza Mayor bar. These have been named “Albergues” after the hostels that line the Camino de Santiago for Pilgrims to stay in. On the Stena Line ships these lounge spaces are occupied by the cinemas and are slightly bigger. This is because Brittany Ferries has opted to place disabled cabins in these areas as well. With video on demand available throughout the ship free of charge, Brittany Ferries has opted not to install a cinema on GALICIA.
Like deck 7, the rear portion of deck 8 is occupied by passenger cabins. This includes “Comfort Class” cabins, and “standard” inside cabins. There is also a block of 37 dedicated “pullman” freight driver cabins with shared facilities.
Galicia – Deck 9 Deck Plan
The third and final cabin deck is located on deck 9. Again, passenger cabins are situated towards the rear of the deck. The forward area is occupied by crew facilities and the navigation bridge. On deck 8 the cabin area is inspired by the Galician countryside. The three “deluxe” cabins are located on deck 9 aft, with direct access to the deck 9 sun deck.
Galicia – Deck 10 Deck Plan
The rear half of GALICIA‘s uppermost deck is a passenger sun deck. The area houses an outdoor kids play area, a sundeck bar, and even an outdoor gym with exercise machines for passenger use on the starboard side!
Vehicle decks
Galicia’s artwork
Brittany Ferries ships are famous for their artwork, and GALICIA is no exception. In keeping with the theme of the ship, the first in the Brittany Ferries fleet to be totally themed around Spain, the carefully curated selection of original, commissioned artwork onboard draws inspiration largely from Galicia. Artist Kimberly Poppe worked alongside Brittany Ferries’ strategy director Catherine Querné to commission GALICIA‘s art collection.
The artwork aboard GALICIA encompasses a wide range of media including photography, paintings and sculptures. Spain-based Dutch artists the ‘Klunderbie’ duo have work displayed throughout the vessel.
Although Galician photographer Xan Padron lives mainly in Manhattan, a two-week stay at his eighteenth-century stone cottage back home turned into six months over lockdown. He used the time productively, shooting work which appears in the travel lounge, bar and in the reading lounges.
Galician artist Javier Ortas features, as do unique compositions in sand by New Yorker Mark Van Wagner. Artist Noemi Biro contributed a number of graphic designs aimed a conveying something of the uniqueness of Galicia Some of the walls on the ship are also adorned with quotations from great Galician writers of the past.
Kimberly Poppe herself also contributed some photography to the collection, revealing details of the Galicia region that visitors may otherwise overlook.
Galicia has a distinct language and long tradition of story-telling and the work of six Galician female poets is hosted in the information lounge.
‘Las Meninas’, or the ladies-in-waiting, is the other artistic theme of the shop. The original painting by the Spanish master Velázquez from 1656 features distinctive figures of a young princess and her two attendants with their broad hooped skirts. It has been endlessly reprised. There are two specially acquired Menina statues onboard GALICIA – one located in the C-Club Lounge and the other in an exhibition area on deck 8.
A modern interpretation of Las Meninas by contemporary Spanish artist Alfredo Palmero hangs onboard GALICIA, as does one by UK artist Nicholas de Lacy Brown. A canvas of the original Velázquez painting hangs too, alongside prints of some of Picasso’s interpretations and twenty smaller Meninas statuettes by different artists.
Galicia Technical Data
In common with other vessels in the E-Flexer class, GALICIA is designed to be efficient and more environmentally friendly than existing vessels. Its not just the environment that benefits, however.
GALICIA and her part-sisters operating for Stena and DFDS are designed to be smoother, quieter, and have less vibration than existing ships as well as less emissions. GALICIA is also equipped with an exhaust gas scrubber system, which removes the most harmful particulates from her exhaust.
One of the key considerations in the design of the E-Flexer series was fuel efficiency. The resulting long and slender hull form is also said to make for excellent seakeeping in all weathers.
| GALICA | |
| IMO Number | 9856189 |
| Callsign | FMMN |
| Class | Stena “E-Flexer” Passenger and Ro-Ro Cargo (Ro-Pax) ferry |
| Building Yard | China Merchants Jinling Shipyard (Weihai) Co., Ltd., Shandong Province, China (previously known as AVIC Weihai Shipyard Co., Ltd) |
| Design | Stena / Deltamarin |
| Naval Architect | Deltamarin, Turku, Finland |
| Project Management | Stena RoRo Deltamarin, Turku, Finland (EPCM) |
| Interior designer and architect | Figura Arkitekter, Gothenburg, Sweden |
| Delivery and installation of public spaces, galleys, & cabins | R&M (Rheinhold & Mahla), Hamburg, Germany / Weihai, China |
| Galley Equipment | Aluminox SA, Greece |
|
Contract date | Ordered by Stena RoRo on 11th March, 2016 |
Hull Number | W0267 |
Certification | Class: DNV GL Class 1A Type: 410 – Car Ferry Additional class notations: 1A Ferry(A) BIS BWM(T) Clean COMF(V-2) E0 Gas ready(D, MEC) Ice(1A) NAUT(AW) Recyclable TMON VIBR ((Vesselregister.dnvgl.com. 2020. DNV GL Vessel Register. [online] Available at: <https://vesselregister.dnvgl.com/vesselregister/vesselregister.html> [Accessed 19 November 2020].)) |
| Operator | Brittany Ferries |
| Vessel Management | Brittany Ferries BAI SA Northern Marine Management (ISM) |
| In service | 2 December 2020 |
| Usual Route | Santander – Portsmouth / Portsmouth – Cherbourg |
| Length Overall | 214.5 m 1 |
| Length BP | 202.5 m1 |
Beam | 27.8 m (28.443 extreme)1 |
| Draught | 6.7 m1 |
Gross Tonnage | 41,671 GT ((Vesselregister.dnvgl.com. 2020. DNV GL Vessel Register. [online] Available at: <https://vesselregister.dnvgl.com/vesselregister/vesselregister.html> [Accessed 19 November 2020].)) |
| DWT | 7,7001 |
| Number of decks | 10 (3 passenger decks plus sun deck) |
Machinery | Main-propulsion package supplied by Caterpillar Marine including 2 x Caterpillar MaK 12 M43 C gas (Methanol or LNG) ready V12 4-stroke marine diesel propulsion engines built by Caterpillar Motoren Rostock GmbH, Rostock, Germany. An in-line exhaust gas scrubber system is fitted to the exhaust of each main engine.
|
| Power (Max) | 25,200 kW |
| Design Speed | 22 kts |
Passenger Capacity | 1015 |
| Crew | 85 |
| Passenger Cabins | 343 |
Vehicle capacity | 3,100 lane metres of freight (on 3 decks – 1, 3, 5) 5.2 m free height on deck 3 and 5 Twin-level drive-through loading configuration with bow and stern doors and tilting internal ramps between decks. |
|
Flag state (port) | Morlaix (France) |
With thanks to the Brittany Ferries Press Team for their assistance with this feature. For further information on GALICA, visit the Brittany Ferries website here.
