The Stena Europe, which operates on the daily Stena Line ferry service between Rosslare and Fishguard has become the first vessel in Stena Line’s Irish Sea fleet of seven ships to sport the leading ferry company’s new strapline.
‘Connecting Europe for a Sustainable Future’ is now emblazoned in thirty-foot green lettering on either side of the ship to reflect the company’s commitment to becoming a more sustainable and environmentally friendly company, a key aspect of Stena Line’s future business strategy.
The external livery work was carried out at Belfast’s iconic Harland & Wolff shipyard and was manged by Stena Line’s group sister company, Northern Marine Ferries as part of an ongoing £7m fleet refit programme.
In addition to the exterior upgrades, the Stena Europe also had work carried out on bow thrusters, rudders and main shaft seals under the water line, with additional upgrades to the galley, bar and crew accommodation.
To accommodate the increasing demand from the freight transport industry, Stena Line also increased the height of the vessel’s cargo deck which now allows access to high top trailers, a key requirement of more and more freight customers operating between Britain and Ireland.
Ian Davies, Stena Line’s Trade Director (Irish Sea South) commented: “We are delighted that one of our vessels has become the first Stena Line ship on the Irish Sea to promote our new company strapline which graphically reflects our increasing commitment to become a more sustainable and environmentally friendly company.
Furthermore, for our freight customers, we took onboard their feedback in relation to the accommodation of high top trailers and took the refit opportunity to increase the height clearance of an area of our cargo deck to 4.65m. The Stena Europe is now equipped to accommodate all trailer height variations which we are confident will help us continue to expand our freight business in 2017.”
Stena Line is the largest ferry operator on the Irish Sea, offering the biggest fleet and the widest choice of routes between Britain to Ireland including Belfast to Liverpool and Heysham, Belfast to Cairnryan, Dublin to Holyhead and Rosslare to Fishguard routes, a total of 224 weekly sailing options between Britain and Ireland. Stena Line also offers a direct service from Rosslare to Cherbourg with three return crossings a week.
