According to AVIC Weihai, the final pre-fabricated cabin unit for the first Stena E-Flexer, STENA ESTRID, was lifted in place on the 18th May. The milestone has been reached just 4 months after the dedicated cabin production facility was opened at the yard on January 16th.
On May 25th the first cabin unit was fitted to the second Stena E-Flexer, STENA EDDA. STENA EDDA is the first of two E-Flexer vessels for the Belfast to Liverpool (Birkenhead) route. The prefabricated cabins not only contain bulkheads (walls), decks (floors) and deckheads (ceilings), but are also already fitted with bathrooms, wooden furniture, and heating and ventilation ducting, as well as and plumbing ready to be connected to the ship.
Particularly impressive has been that since the first E-Flexer “kick-off” meeting just under three years ago on 20th June 2016, the yard has completely modernised its working and production methods to meet Northern European standards under the guidance of Stena, Reinhold and Mahla (the interior outfitter) and others all while building the vessels at the same time. While the vessels are being constructed in China components have been sourced from around the globe as well as locally, while a multinational design, production and management team has been assembled to work on the project alongside the Chinese.
In their update at the start of June, AVIC state that the ships under construction are on schedule while the rest of the project is also on time. The team are now working on completing the fit-out of the public spaces on STENA ESTRID and as mentioned above are fitting the cabins to STENA EDDA.
For more information on the Stena E-Flexer series of ferries for Stena Line, Brittany Ferries and DFDS see our dedicated page here.
