Stena Line’s STENA VINGA arrived in Rosslare for the first time on Monday. The Dutch-built ferry, which is on loan from Stena Line Scandinavia, has released STENA HORIZON from the Rosslare – Cherbourg route so that she can cover STENA ESTRID‘s continued absence from the Dublin – Holyhead route. On her way to Ireland for Sweden, ‘Vinga’ made a quick call at Cherbourg for berthing trials.
STENA ESTRID will continue to provide cover on the Belfast – Cairnryan route. STENA VINGA began her first crossing from Rosslare to Cherbourg earlier tonight. At present she is scheduled to continue on the Cherbourg route until Sunday October 25.
At present STENA SUPERFAST VIII is at Harland & Wolff, but is expected to leave on tomorrow (Wednesday) morning to release sister-ship STENA SUPERFAST VII. As a consequence, STENA ESTRID will continue to sail on the schedule normally operated by ‘VIII’, departing Belfast at 07:30, etc.
Update 30.09.20 am: STENA SUPERFAST VIII is now not expected to leave dry dock until 02.10.20. As always, this may change.
STENA VINGA is a much smaller ship than STENA HORIZON with around 700 lane metres less freight space and much less passenger accommodation. Her 400 passenger capacity is also much lower than the regular Rosslare – Cherbourg route, but this won’t be an issue as she is operating in freight-only mode. Passenger demand between Ireland and France remains low even for the time of year, partially as a result of COVID-19 restrictions.
Although STENA VINGA is similar in appearance to BEN-MY-CHREE and COMMODORE CLIPPER, she is not a direct sister-ship. Built as HAMMERODDE, STENA VINGA was built to modified plans and at a different shipyard – Merwede rather than Van Der Giessen. During 2010 she received an additional trailer deck at STX Europe, Helsinki. As-built, STENA VINGA also had a slightly different length to both BEN-MY-CHREE and COMMODORE CLIPPER and different superstructure.