Stena RoRo orders LNG-fueled RoPax to charter to Brittany Ferries

MAY 27, 2018 — Stena RoRo recently ordered its sixth Roll-on/Roll-Off Passenger (RoPax) ferry in the Stena E-Flexer RoPax Class from China’s AVIC International Shipyard. This vessel will be built to burn Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as fuel, with delivery in the fall of 2021.

As we reported back in April, the fifth in the series was bareboat chartered under a 10-year long agreement with Denmark’s DFDS for English Channel operation. This RoPax, however, will operate under a 10-year charter with France’s Brittany Ferries.

StenaRoRo has options to build two further vessels with AVIC.

This vessel, together with a further vessel in the E-Flexer series ordered last winter, will supplement Brittany Ferries’ fleet operating between Portsmouth in the UK and Bilbao and Santander in Spain. The new ferries will have a capacity of 3,100 lane meters and will accommodate up to 1,000 passengers.

In 2016, Stena RoRo placed an order for four large RoPax vessels with AVIC International with an option on a further four vessels. The vessel now ordered is the sixth in the series and, in contrast to the other vessels, will be built for LNG operation. The other three vessels will be operated by Stena Line on the Irish Sea.

“These ships have been designed to satisfy our customers’ demanding standards with respect to both operational efficiency and the environment. The Stena E-Flexer class is designed to offer the highest possible flexibility as regards future fuels and Brittany Ferries has chosen LNG operation for this ship”, says Per Westling, Managing Director, Stena RoRo AB.