MS ''Stena Superfast VIII'' is a fast
Ro-Pax
Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, Trailer (vehicle), trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their o ...
ferry owned and operated by
Stena Line between
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
and
Cairnryan. The ship was built in 2001 by
Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW),
Kiel
Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021).
Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
for
Attica Group
Attica Holdings S.A. is an operator of international ferry services in Europe. The Group's operations include its subsidiaries Superfast Ferries, which began in 1995 with the launch of its first ships, Superfast I & Superfast II, and Blue Star Fer ...
's subsidiary
Superfast Ferries
Superfast Ferries is a Greece-based ferry company founded in 1993 by Pericles Panagopulos and Alexander Panagopulos. Superfast Ferries is a member of Attica Group and operates 3 car-passenger ferries, offering daily connections between Anc ...
. She was sold to her current owners in 2017.
![MS Superfast VIII](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/MS_Superfast_VIII.jpg)
In March 2006 Superfast sold its
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...
operations to Tallink. Like her sisters, the ''Superfast VIII'' was moved from Finnish to Estonian registry, and her route changed to Hanko–
Paldiski–Rostock from April 2006 onwards. The call at Paldiski proved to be impractical, and already in June of the same year the route reverted to Hanko–Rostock. Around this time the ship's hull markings were changed to "Superfast operated by Tallink". Although there were rumours that the ships would be moved under Silja Line's brand from January 2007 onwards, they were instead officially made a part of Tallink's fleet. At the same time their route changed to Tallinn–Helsinki–Rostock. Between 5 and 12 April 2007 the ship was used on the Helsinki–Tallinn route due to a delay in the delivery of the new
MS ''Star''. After this she joined her sisters in the Rostock service.
Stena Line charter
In March 2011,
Stena Line announced it would be chartering the ''Superfast VIII'' and sister ship
''Superfast VII''. The vessels now operate on crossings of the
North Channel North Channel may refer to:
*North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland)
The North Channel (known in Irish and Scottish Gaelic as , in Scots as the ) is the strait between north-eastern Northern Ireland and south-western Scotland. It begins no ...
separating Ireland and Britain; between
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
and
Cairnryan, at a new facility built by Stena Line called Loch Ryan Port.
in February 2014, Stena renewed the charter of these ships until Autumn 2019. Stena Superfast VIII has been voted the top ship in the entire Stena Line fleet by Stena customers for both 2013 and 2014. More recently the ship has been voted top ship in both the Irish Sea fleet and the entire Stena fleet 2022.
Conversion to day ferries
Before the two sisters entered service for Stena Line, an extensive refurbishment/conversion overseen by Stena Ro-Ro and Knud E Hansen was undertaken at the Remontowa Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland. This was rumoured at the time to have cost a total of €14M.
As part of this conversion, the free height of the upper vehicle deck (deck 5) was raised to 5.05 m allowing Stena to carry full height freight. This included removing the passenger areas on deck 6, where there were areas such as a bar and a conference room. There still is a blue lift exit on deck 6, which only leads to the stairway.
Both ships also received an additional bow thruster to improve manoeuvrability, taking their complement to 3 bow thrusters and 1 stern thruster.
As the new port in Scotland had a TTS automated mooring system installed, the ships were also adapted to work with this by adding three steel bollards on the starboard side bow. The conversion of the vessels and construction of the new port in Scotland were part of a £200m rolling investment in the route between Scotland and Northern Ireland. There were also 2 remote controlled arms installed at Belfast Victoria Terminal 4, which attach to the stern of each vessel.
Refurbishment
During March 2015, some areas of ''Stena Superfast VIII'' were refurbished whilst the ship was dry docked at Harland and Wolff.
Along with the entire Irish sea fleet (1 ship at a time), Superfast VIII will enter dry dock in April 2023 for extensive work to both the exterior and to the passenger accommodation, this dock will take place in Liverpool.
Other information
''Stena Superfast VIII'' is managed by Stena Line as of March 2023. Stena Line purchased the vessel in December 2017.
References
External links
M/S Superfast VIII at Fakta om Fartyg(in Swedish)
Superfast VIII at marinetraffic.comStena Superfast VII and VIII at NIFerrysite.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stena Superfast VIII
Ferries of Estonia
Ferries of Finland
Ferries of Northern Ireland
Ships built in Kiel
2000 ships
Superfast 8
08