Stena Line’s super-ferries complete €1M makeover

Swedish firm’s two biggest vessels get extended and upgraded facilities

Sweden, Gothenburg headquartered Stena Line says that the ferry company's two largest ferries, the Stena Hollandica and Stena Britannica, have completed a €1M refit to provide brand new onboard facilities. The North Sea vessels, that sail twice daily between Harwich, in the U.K., and Hoek van Holland, in The Netherlands, were in dry-dock in the EDR Shipyard in the historic Port of Antwerp to undergo their regular annual maintenance to keep them up to the company’s high standards. While there they also received some exciting new additions to the onboard services on offer for passengers.

Duty Free sales on routes to the U.K. have been booming since Brexit, with onboard spend per passengers increasing by an enormous 118% in 2021. To cater for this huge demand Stena Line has added a new additional Duty Free shop to each vessel, extending the retail floorspace on both ships by a whopping 40%. Allowing the company to greatly increase not only the capacity of goods on sale, but also extend the range of products on sale by almost a third. Meaning more Duty Free bargains on sale for its North Sea customers, who can save up to 50% off UK high street prices.

Dog ownership has also been booming during the Pandemic and with more people than ever travelling with fury friends, pet lovers will be pleased to hear about a brand new option. For the first time ever on the North Sea, Stena Line are offering dog-friendly cabins. 15 of the vessel’s 500 cabins have been converted to allow passengers to travel together with their happy dogs. Dog-friendly cabins are suggestions that passengers have been requesting via the company’s satisfaction surveys, so they are pleased to be able to respond to their customers’ requests.

Meanwhile, for those passengers that enjoy the wide selection of onboard facilities, the vessels two popular Barista Bars have received a new stylish Scandinavian look and feel. Allowing customers to enjoy their journeys eating, drinking, and relaxing in luxury and comfort.

Each of the vessels top of the range Captain’s Suites have also been refurbished to maintain the high standards that Stena Line’s premium customers demand and expect.

Erik Thulin, Trade Director for the North Sea said: “Our annual dry-docking programme is key to keeping our vessels ship-shape and continue looking so good. It also allows us to be flexible in responding to our customers’ demand, so we’ve taken the opportunity to extend our onboard Duty Free offer, to provide for more products and more bargains for our customers. We are also pleased to offer our first ever dog-friendly cabins. We listened to our many customers who have requested this option and they can now have up to 3 dogs with them in each of our 15 dog-friendly cabins. We looking to forward to welcoming all our customers, including out four-legged friends back on newly refurbished vessels on the North Sea.”

Stena Hollandica and Stena Britannica fast-facts: at 240m in length and at 32m width, each vessel has over 5kms of vehicle lanes. This allows each ship to carry 300 trucks and 230 cars. With 1,200 passengers, looked after by 85 crew. At a gross tonnage of 63,000 gt they are the largest vessels currently operating in Stena Line’s fleet.

About Stena Line

Sweden, Gothenburg headquartered Stena Line was founded in 1962 and today is one of Europe's leading ferry companies with 37 vessels and 18 routes in Northern Europe. Stena Line is an important part of the European logistics network and develops new intermodal freight solutions by combining transport by rail, road and sea. Stena Line also plays an important role for tourism in Europe with its extensive passenger operations. The company is family-owned. Stena Line is part of the Stena AB Group, which has 15 700 employees and an annual turnover of around 37 billion SEK