Stena starts building third E-Flexer RoPax

All three of Stena Line’s new E-Flexer ships are on schedule and under construction at the AVIC Weihai Shipyard in China.

Stena Line’s chief operating officer, Peter Arvidsson, said: “We are delighted to report that the steel cutting ceremony for the third of our Irish Sea E-Flexer ships has now taken place and that construction is going to plan across all three of our new generation RoPax vessels.

“Having visited the site several times, we are very impressed with the work being carried out by Stena RoRo, the Avic shipyard and its subcontractors.”

The vessels will be 215 metres long with a freight capacity of 3,100 lane metres and the space to carry 120 cars and 1,000 passengers.

In addition, the company ordered a further two E-Flexer RoPax vessels with a larger design in July 2018, to be deployed within Stena Line’s network in 2022. These larger ships will be 240 metres long with a total freight capacity of 3,600 lane metres, and passenger capacity of 1,200.

The first of the new vessels will commence operation on the Holyhead to Dublin route in early 2020, with the remaining two ships to be introduced on the Liverpool to Belfast route in 2020 and 2021.

Stena’s E-Flexers were the subject of a recent ship description by The Motorship.