Stena Mersey back in service
Stena Mersey returned to service this morning and made good progress to Birkenhead. Hopefully her technical issues are now fixed and she will have a reliable summer season ahead!
Stena Line
Stena Line is a Northern European ferry operator. The company is headquartered in Sweden and is part of family owned Stena AB. Stena Line’s route network is concentrated in Scandinavia, The Baltic, The North Sea, and Irish Sea.
The company has expanded aggressively in recent decades, both organically and through acquisitions such as Sealink British Ferries and part of the Scandlines operations. Stena Line works closely with other companies within the Stena Sphere, such as Stena RoRo and R&F Travel Retail.
Following it’s takeover of Sealink British Ferries during 1990/01, Stena Line has expanded and modernised services around the British Isles.
On the Irish Sea, Stena Line runs ferries to Belfast from Liverpool (Birkenhead), Cairnryan (Loch Ryan Port), and the Freight only service from Heysham. Stena Line also runs ferries between Rosslare and both Fishguard and Cherbourg, as well as Dublin and Holyhead. The company has the largest route network on the Irish Sea.
Stena Line also has an extensive network on the North Sea, including the former railway route between Harwich and Hoek van Holland.
Stena Mersey technical problems
Tonights sailing from Birkenhead is currently delayed until approx 01:45 tomorrow morning due to technical problems with Stena Mersey. At the time of writing this mornings sailing has yet to arrive in Birkenhead with Stena Mersey having made slow progress at around 12kts across the Irish Sea today since leaving Belfast this morning. Please contact Stena Ferry Check on +44 (0) 8705 755 755 for the latest information and before altering any travel plans.
Service update
The following is from P&O “P&O Ferries Updates @POferriesupdate Please note there will be no sailing @ 16:30 ex Larne or 20:00 ex Cairnryan today. All other services are operating as scheduled.” Additionally Stena Superfast VII is off today for some maintenance, so just 1 ship for each Stena and P&O running today. It would appear that this is another technical issue for European Causeway. No indication how long she will be off service for yet.
North Channel update – Stena and P&O
We have been advised that Stena Line will have Superfast VIII withdrawn for maintenance between Tuesday and Thursday. Her last sailing will be tonights midnight departure from Lough Ryan Port. It had been earlier reported (but not on this site) that she would be withdrawn today, but delays at H&W have led to this being postponed. Due to the ongoing improvement works at Cairnryan it is expected that there will be a 48 hour stoppage from Saturday 24th to Sunday 25th of May in order for the new linkspan and conventional ferry berth to be completed, with services resuming on the 26th using the new berth. No further details are available at present, with the details above subject to change.
Belfast – Cairnryan (Loch Ryan Port service update) 4/5/14
Stena’s 11:30 ex Belfast and 15:30 ex Cairnryan where cancelled today due to “essential maintenance” on Stena Superfast VIII. She is currently scheduled to sail as normal from Belfast at 19:30.
Goodbye Celtic Link Ferries
With effect of 31st March, the Irish Ferry company Celtic Link ferries ceased to exist as a separate entity and became part of Stena Line. Celtic Link previously ran the year round Rosslare – Cherbourg service, which they took over from P&O in 2005 after that company abandoned the route the previous year. The current vessel, the chartered Visentini built ropax Celtic Horizon, is to be renamed Stena Horizon, and the process of repainting her funnel in the Stena house colours began on Monday in Rosslare. Stena Horizon is a sister ship of Stena Lagan and Stena Mersey, however she has not yet been refurbished to the high standard of the Birkenhead vessels. Stena subsidiary NMM (Northern Marine Management) are to take over the management of Stena Horizon in line with practice for the rest of the fleet operating to Ireland. Celtic Link ferries established the route as an important … Read more
Latest from the North Channel
Stena Superfast VII left Harland and Wollf this afternoon and headed for Victoria Terminal 4, I assume to take up her normal schedule from the 19:30 departure onwards. Stena Hibernia has returned to the Birkenhead schedule a day early. European Highlander is still in drydock with what looks to be serious technical problems. Its a very wet and blowy evening out there, let’s hope there are no further delays.
Further update on the former Stena Antrim
From reading Spanish news reports it would appear that the former Stena Antrim (ex St Christopher, now Ibn Battouta) has been declared abandoned along with 3 other ships previously owned by the failed COMARIT/COMANAV ferry operation. A demand for EUR 386,191.58 in fees owed to the port has been made to be paid within 15 days (of the 21st of March) it seems, or the ships will presumably be sold at auction. As previously reported on this site the 4 ships have lain idle at Algericas for almost 3 years now, and with COMARIT/COMANAV bankrupt (though I understand some legal proceedings are still underway) its hard to see where the money is going to come from. Another of the ships, Al Mansour, also served on the Irish Sea briefly for B&I line between Rosslare and Pembroke, though she will be remembered by many as RMT’s Reine Astrid operating from Ostend to … Read more
Technical problems on North Channel services
Both European Highlander and Stena Superfast VII where off service today at Harland and Wolff shipyard. Whilst the Stena maintenance had been planned, European Highlander suffered serious technical problems towards the end of last week and so was drydocked this morning. This has meant North Channel services to both Cairnryan ports have operated at half capacity. P&O’s Express Catermaran is also at Harland and Wolff being readied for her planned return to service At the end of the month. Stena Hibernia left Belfast laden this evening just after 7:30pm bound for Cairnryan in order to move trailer traffic across the channel and I assume she will also return laden. At present European Highlander is still in drydock, and Superfast VII is scheduled to be off service tomorrow as well, so all sailings are expected to be very busy again tomorrow. At present the active fleet is as follows: P&O Larne … Read more
Stena Hibernia timetable change
The freight only Belfast – Birkenhead vessel Stena Hibernia is to layover at Belfast instead of Birkenhead over the weekends. This means her first sailing of the week will be the 15:00 from Belfast instead of the 03:00 from Birkenhead.
Stena Lagan / Stena Mersey (Vessel Profile)
Profile of Stena Line’s Visentini-built RoPax sister-ships STENA LAGAN (IMO: 9329849) and STENA MERSEY (IMO: 9329851), which operate on the Belfast – Liverpool route. Includes an overview of their history, technical specifications, and photographs of the vessels inside and out.
Stena buy direct Ireland to France route
(Official Stena Press Release)“Leading European ferry company Stena Line has acquired the Irish-owned Celtic Link ferry service which operates from Rosslare-Cherbourg. Celtic Link currently provides a three times weekly service between Ireland and France with the Mv Celtic Horizon, which can accommodate 1 000 passengers, 200 cars and 120 freight units. Ian Davies, Stena Line’s Route Manager (Irish Sea South) said: “The acquisition of the Rosslare-Cherbourg route is a key strategic investment for Stena Line and one which will help stimulate and strengthen new and existing opportunities for trade and tourism between Ireland, France and beyond. With confidence in the Irish economy strengthening, we see positive long term growth in tourist and freight traffic from the Continent as a real opportunity to help strengthen this economic growth further. The Celtic Horizon will continue to operate a year- round service and we look forward to introducing the Stena Line experience to … Read more
