Stena Line is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

shipping line company and one of the largest

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

operators in the world. It services Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland,

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Stena Line is a major unit of Stena AB, itself a part of the

Stena Sphere The Stena Sphere consists of the three parent companies, Stena AB, Stena Sessan AB and Stena Metall AB, wholly owned by the Olsson family. Together they make up one of Sweden’s largest family-owned corporate groups. The group’s revenue is 66 bi ...

History

Formation

Stena Line was founded in 1962 by Sten A. Olsson in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

, which still serves as the company's headquarters, when he acquired Skagenlinjen between Gothenburg and Frederikshavn, Denmark. In 1972, Stena Line was one of the first ferry operators in Europe to introduce a computer-based reservation system for the travel business area. In 1978, the freight business area also started operating a computer-based reservation system.

Freight

The first freight-focused route started between Gothenburg, Sweden, and Kiel, Germany. The ship was the MS ''Stena Transporter''.

North Sea

During the 1980s, Stena acquired three other ferry companies. * 1981, Sessan Line, Stena's biggest competitor on Sweden–Denmark routes, was acquired and incorporated into Stena Line. This included Sessan's two large newbuilds, ''Kronprinsessan Victoria'' and , which became the largest ships operated by Stena by that date. * 1983, Stena acquired Varberg-Grenå Linjen, and two years later also the right to that company's former name, Lion Ferry. Lion Ferry continued as a separate marketing company until 1997, when it was incorporated into Stena Line. * 1989, Stena acquired yet another ferry company, Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland (SMZ) (''which at the time traded under the name Crown Line''). SMZ's Hook of Holland–

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...

route then became a part of Stena Line.

North America

* 1988, Jul - Stena Line purchased the British Columbia Steamship Co., operators of a Victoria– Seattle route. * 1990, Nov - The Victoria–Seattle run was permanently cancelled, and the local company ceased trading.

Irish Sea

In 1990 Stena Line doubled in size with the acquisition of Sealink British Ferries from Sea Containers. This first became Sealink Stena Line, then Stena Sealink Line and finally Stena Line (UK), which now operates all of Stena's ferry services between Great Britain and Ireland. Stena Superfast X (2017)

In 1996, Stena Line introduced its 20,000 tonne HSS (

High-speed Sea Service High-speed Sea Service or Stena HSS was a class of high-speed craft developed by and originally operated by Stena Line on European international ferry routes. The HSS 1500 had an in-service speed of 40 knots (75 km/h). Several patent ...

) vessels, which operated: Belfast-

Stranraer Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; gd, An t-Sròn Reamhar ), also known as The Toon, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is located in the historical parish of Inch in the historic county of Wigtownshire. It lies on the shores of L ...

;

Holyhead Holyhead (,; cy, Caergybi , "Cybi's fort") is the largest town and a community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales, with a population of 13,659 at the 2011 census. Holyhead is on Holy Island, bounded by the Irish Sea to the north, and is ...

- Dún Laoghaire and Hook of Holland-

. In addition to the three 1,500-passenger HSS vessels, Stena Line ordered two smaller 900-passenger HSS vessels to operate on the

– Frederikshavn route. Due to the bankruptcy of the shipyard, only the first of these vessels was ever completed.

English channel

In 1998, Stena's operations from

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

and

Newhaven Newhaven may refer to: Places * Newhaven, Derbyshire, England, a hamlet *Newhaven, East Sussex, England, a port town * Newhaven, Edinburgh, Scotland *Newhaven Sanctuary, Northern Territory, Australia *Newhaven, Victoria, Australia Other uses *Ne ...

were merged with P&O European Ferries to form P&O Stena Line, 40% of which was owned by Stena and 60% by P&O. In 2002, P&O acquired all of Stena's shares in the company, thus becoming the sole owner of P&O Stena Line, which soon changed its name to P&O Ferries.

Further expansion

In 2000, Stena Line purchased yet another Scandinavian ferry operator: Scandlines AB. In November 2006, Stena ordered a pair of "super ferries" with a

gross tonnage Gross tonnage (GT, G.T. or gt) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage. Neither gross tonnage nor gross register tonnage should be confused with measures of mass or weigh ...

of 62,000 from Aker Yards, Germany for delivery in 2010, with an option for two more ships of the same design. The new ferries will be amongst the largest in the world, to be operated on Stena's North Sea route from Hook of Holland to

. The existing ships from the North Sea were to be moved to the Kiel–Gothenborg route, whereas the ships from Kiel would transfer to the Gdynia to

Karlskrona Karlskrona (, , ) is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with a population of 66,675 in 2018. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to Swed ...

route. The new ferries were launched in 2010, with ''Stena Hollandica'' entering service on 16 May 2010, and ''Stena Britannica'' planned to enter service in the autumn of 2010.

Acquisitions and closures

* 2008, May - The company moved its Belfast Terminal from Albert Quay to the new VT4. This has reduced the length of the crossing to

by ten minutes. * 2009, Jul - Stena Line announced that it had repurchased its former ship, ''

Stena Parisien Stena may refer to: * Ştena, a commune in Romania * Stena (Macedonia), a station in ancient Macedonia * Stena Sphere, Swedish conglomerate ** Stena Line, a ferry operator See also * Kteni Kteni is a village located in Aiani municipal unit, ...

'', from SeaFrance. The ship is now known as ''Stena Navigator''. She had a comprehensive refit. Following on from this, the ship was introduced on the

to Belfast route, alongside HSS ''Stena Voyager'' and ''Stena Caledonia''. * 2010, Dec - Stena Line announced it had acquired the Northern Irish operations of DFDS Seaways. The sale includes the Belfast to Heysham & Birkenhead routes, two vessels from the Heysham route (Scotia Seaways & Hibernia Seaways) and two chartered vessels from the Birkenhead route ( & ). The Fleetwood to Larne route ended on 24 December 2010. * 2011, Nov 21 - Stena Line introduced the ''Stena Superfast VII'' and ''Stena Superfast VIII'' to replace the ''Stena Navigator'' and ''Stena Caledonia'' on the Belfast-

Cairnryan Cairnryan ( sco, The Cairn;
gd, Machair an Sgithich) is a vi ...

route. It was announced that the ''Stena Voyager'' would be removed from service on 20 November 2011. It was later sold to Stena Recycling and sent for scrapping in May 2013. * 2014, Feb 26 - it was announced that Stena Line would acquire the Celtic Link ferry service from Rosslare to

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...

, France. * 2019 Feb - A joint venture with Hyundai Glovis has been announced and approved by the European Commission, for the implementation of a new cooperative short sea intra-European waters service in between the two carriers, for the sea transport of transhipment cargo originating from South Korea. * 2020, Mar 14 - due to the

Coronavirus outbreak Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the comm ...

, the company suspended operations between Oslo and Frederikshavn temporarily until further notice due to travel restrictions in Denmark and Norway, the routes sole ship the ''

MS Stena Saga MS ''Stena Saga'' is a cruiseferry owned by the Swedish shipping company Stena Line and was operating mainly on their route connecting Oslo, Norway to Frederikshavn, Denmark until March 2020, after that the route was closed down. She was built ...

'' was sent to

where she arrived on 16 March 2020 where the company later confirmed it would be making 950 redundancies in Sweden as a result of Coronavirus. The company then later announced on 19 March 2020 that it was going to permanently suspend and close operations on the Oslo-Frederikshavn service due to the lack of profitability, where Stena announced that due to Coronavirus it was unlikely able to see it turn a profit during the whole year when the service is totally dependent on the summer season. The future of ''Stena Saga'' remains uncertain and remained laid up in Gothenburg.

Routes

Irish Sea

* Fishguard – Rosslare: *

– Dublin Port: ''Stena Adventurer'', ''Stena Estrid'' * Belfast –

Cairnryan Cairnryan ( sco, The Cairn;
gd, Machair an Sgithich) is a vi ...

: ''Stena Superfast VII'', ''Stena Superfast VIII'', ''Stena Nordica'' * Belfast – Heysham: ''Stena Hibernia'', ''Stena Scotia'' * Belfast – Birkenhead: ''Stena Edda'', ''Stena Embla'', ''Stena Foreteller'' *

– Rosslare: ''Stena Horizon'' (currently delayed in dry-dock), ''Panorama Seatruck'', ''Stena Forecaster''.

North Sea

* Hook of Holland –

: ''Stena Britannica'', ''Stena Hollandica'' * Hook of Holland – North Killingholme Haven: ''Stena Transit'', ''Stena Transporter'' * Rotterdam –

: ''Somerset'', ''Stena Forerunnner'' * Rotterdam – North Killingholme Haven: ''POL Maris'', ''Hatche/POL Stella'' * Rotterdam –

Immingham Immingham is a town, civil parish and ward in the North East Lincolnshire unitary authority of England. It is situated on the south-west bank of the Humber Estuary, and is north-west from Grimsby. The region was relatively unpopulated and un ...

(from 2022): ''Jutlandia Sea'', ''Fiona Sea''

Scandinavia, Poland and Germany

– Frederikshavn: , , *

Halmstad Halmstad () is a port, university, industrial and recreational city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Socia ...

– Grenå: *

– Kiel: ''Stena Germanica'', ''Stena Scandinavica'' * Oslo –

Fredrikshavn Frederikshavn () is a Danish town in Frederikshavn municipality, Region Nordjylland, on the northeast coast of the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark. Its name translates to "Frederik's harbor". It was originally named Fladstrand. The town h ...

: - Closed 19 March 2020 *

– Gdynia: ''Stena Spirit'', ''Stena Vision'', ''Stena Nordica'' * Nynäshamn – Ventspils: ''Stena Scandica'', '' ''Stena Baltica'' (from February 2022), ''Stena Flavia'' (until February 2022)'' * Trelleborg – Rostock: ''Mecklenburg Vorpommern'', * Nynäshamn -

Hanko Hanko may refer to People *August Hanko (military personnel), August Hanko, German First World War flying ace Places *Hanko, Finland, town and municipality *Hanko Peninsula, Finland *Hankø, an island in the Oslo Fjord in Norway *The asteroid ...

: Urd, Stena Gothica (from 1 May 2022) * Travemünde – Liepāja: ''Stena Gothica'', ''Stena Livia'', ''Stena Flavia'' (from February 2022)

Fleet

Current ships

Future fleet

Stena has five vessels of the E-Flexer class on order, with the first scheduled for delivery in early 2020. The first ship of the new series was named ''Stena Estrid''. After her trials, she has commenced service on 13 January 2020, on the route Dublin -

Gallery

Image:Stena Traveller.JPG, Stena Traveller at the Hook of Holland Image:Stena Traveller 2.JPG, Stena Traveller at the Hook of Holland

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Stena Line
– Corporate site
Stena Line Reservations
– UK online ticket reservations and home pages
Stena Line Reservations
– Swedish online ticket reservations and home pages
Stena Line Reservations
– Czech online ticket reservations and home pages
Stena Line Reservations
– Dutch online ticket reservations and home pages {{Authority control Ferry companies of Sweden Ferry companies of England Ferry companies of Scotland Ferry companies of Wales Ferry companies of Northern Ireland Ferry companies of the Republic of Ireland Ferry companies of the Netherlands Ferry companies of Denmark Ferry companies of Germany Ferry companies of Norway Ferry companies of Poland Companies based in Gothenburg 1962 establishments in Sweden Transport companies established in 1962 Multinational companies headquartered in Sweden Swedish brands Ro-ro shipping companies Car carrier shipping companies