Stena Line is a Swedish shipping line company and one of the largest ferry operators in the world. It services

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

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 ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

and Sweden. 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, Sweden, which still serves as the company's headquarters, when he acquired Skagenlinjen between Gothenburg and

Frederikshavn 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 ...

. 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 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 pe ...

. 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 was a Swedish ferry company which operated passenger and freight ferry services in Scandinavia and North America. History In 1960 The ''Prins Bertil'' enters service between Halmstad and Aarhus. Lion Ferry acquired Norwegian ferry o ...

. 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 Hook of Holland ( nl, Hoek van Holland, ) is a town in the southwestern corner of Holland, hence the name; ''hoek'' means "corner" and was the word in use before the word ''kaap'' – "cape", from Portuguese ''cabo'' – became Dutch. The English t ...

–

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- ...

route then became a part of Stena Line.

North America

* 1988, Jul - Stena Line purchased the British Columbia Steamship Co., operators of a

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

–

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

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 Sea Containers was a Bermudan registered company which operated two main business areas: transport and container leasing. It filed for bankruptcy on 16 October 2006. In 2009 its maritime container interests were transferred to a new company Sea ...

. 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 Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and

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 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 Kingd ...

- Stranraer; Holyhead-

Dún Laoghaire Dún Laoghaire ( , ) is a suburban coastal town in Dublin in Ireland. It is the administrative centre of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. The town was built following the 1816 legislation that allowed the building of a major port to serve Dubli ...

and

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

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 P&O European Ferries (formerly Townsend Thoresen), a division of P&O Ferries, was a ferry company which operated in the English Channel from 1987 after the ''Herald of Free Enterprise'' disaster, when ''Townsend Thoresen'' was renamed ''P&O Eu ...

to form

P&O Stena Line P&O Stena Line was formed in 1998 after the merger of P&O European Ferries (Dover) Ltd and the Dover and Newhaven operations of Stena Line. History The idea for a joint service was initially put forward in July 1996 and in October of the same y ...

, 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 Scandlines is a ferry company that operates the Rødby– Puttgarden and Gedser–Rostock ferry routes between Denmark and Germany. Scandlines owns 7 ferries, 6 of which are hybrid ferries, making Scandlines the owner of the world's largest ...

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 weig ...

of 62,000 from

Aker Yards Aker may refer to: Places * Aker, Norway, a geographic area in Oslo and a former municipality in Norway * Vestre Aker, a district of Oslo within former Aker municipality * Nordre Aker, a district of Oslo within former Aker municipality * Aker Br ...

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 The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

route from

. The existing ships from the

were to be moved to the Kiel–Gothenborg route, whereas the ships from Kiel would transfer to the

Gdynia Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in th ...

to Karlskrona 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

Terminal from Albert Quay to the new VT4. This has reduced the length of the crossing to Stranraer 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 Stranraer 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 DFDS Seaways is a Danish shipping company that operates passenger and freight services across northern Europe. Following the acquisition of Norfolkline in 2010, DFDS restructured its other shipping divisions ( DFDS Tor Line and DFDS Lisco) ...

. The sale includes the Belfast to

Heysham Heysham ( ) is a coastal town in Lancashire, England, overlooking Morecambe Bay. It is a ferry port, with services to the Isle of Man and Ireland, and the site of two nuclear power stations. Demography Administratively, Heysham is part of the ...

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; Historic counties of England, historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the R ...

routes, two vessels from the Heysham route (Scotia Seaways & Hibernia Seaways) and two chartered vessels from the Birkenhead route ( & ). The

Fleetwood Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the 2011 census. Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830s, when the principal lando ...

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight roll-on roll-off port. Larne is administered by Mid ...

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

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 ...

, France. * 2019 Feb - A joint venture with

Hyundai Glovis Hyundai Glovis Co., Ltd. is a logistics company headquartered in Seoul, South Korea and part of the Hyundai Kia Automotive Group. Its predecessor company, Hankook Logitech Co. Ltd was formed in February 2001. Hyundai Glovis supplies ocean trans ...

has been announced and approved by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

, 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 South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. * 2020, Mar 14 - due to the Coronavirus outbreak, the company suspended operations between

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

and

temporarily until further notice due to travel restrictions in

and

, the routes sole ship the '' MS Stena Saga'' was sent to Gothenburg 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 Fishguard ( cy, Abergwaun, meaning "Mouth of the River Gwaun") is a coastal town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, with a population of 3,419 in 2011; the community of Fishguard and Goodwick had a population of 5,407. Modern Fishguard consists of two ...

– Rosslare: * Holyhead –

Dublin Port Dublin Port ( ga, Calafort Átha Cliath) is the seaport of Dublin, Ireland, of both historical and contemporary economic importance. Approximatively two-thirds of Ireland's port traffic travels via the port, which is by far the busiest on t ...

: ''Stena Adventurer'', ''Stena Estrid'' *

–

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

: ''Stena Superfast VII'', ''Stena Superfast VIII'', ''Stena Nordica'' *

–

: ''Stena Hibernia'', ''Stena Scotia'' *

–

: ''Stena Edda'', ''Stena Embla'', ''Stena Foreteller'' *

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

North Sea

–

: ''Stena Britannica'', ''Stena Hollandica'' *

–

North Killingholme Haven North Killingholme Haven is a water outlet on the south bank of the Humber Estuary in the civil parish of North Killingholme, to the north-west of the Port of Immingham. The area was used at the beginning of the 20th century for clay extraction ...

: ''Stena Transit'', ''Stena Transporter'' *

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

–

: ''Somerset'', ''Stena Forerunnner'' *

–

: ''POL Maris'', ''Hatche/POL Stella'' *

–

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 und ...

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

Scandinavia, Poland and Germany

* Gothenburg –

: , , *

Halmstad Halmstad () is a port, university, industrial and recreational city at the mouth of the Nissan river, in the province of Halland on the Swedish west coast. Halmstad is the seat of Halmstad Municipality and the capital of Halland County. The ci ...

–

Grenå Grenaa (or Grenå) is a Danish town and seaport on the east coast of the Jutlandic peninsula. Tourism, education and commerce are important sectors in the economy of Grenaa. It is the only larger town on Djursland. Grenaa is the municipal seat, an ...

: * Gothenburg –

: ''Stena Germanica'', ''Stena Scandinavica'' *

– Fredrikshavn: - Closed 19 March 2020 * Karlskrona –

: ''Stena Spirit'', ''Stena Vision'', ''Stena Nordica'' *

Nynäshamn Nynäshamn is a locality and the seat of Nynäshamn Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 13,510 inhabitants in 2010. While interest in the area as a potentially useful port grew from the mid 19th Century, it was only with the opening of th ...

–

Ventspils Ventspils (; german: Windau, ; see #Other names, other names) is a state city in northwestern Latvia in the historical Courland region of Latvia, and is the sixth largest city in the country. At the beginning of 2020, Ventspils had a population ...

: ''Stena Scandica'', '' ''Stena Baltica'' (from February 2022), ''Stena Flavia'' (until February 2022)'' *

Trelleborg Trelleborg () is a town in Skåne County, Sweden, with 43,359 inhabitants as of December 31, 2015. It is the southernmost town in Sweden located some west from the southernmost point of Sweden and the Scandinavian peninsula. It is one of the m ...

–

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, ...

: ''Mecklenburg Vorpommern'', *

Hanko Hanko may refer to People * 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 2299 Hanko *Hanko, a misspellin ...

: Urd, Stena Gothica (from 1 May 2022) *

Travemünde Travemünde () is a borough of Lübeck, Germany, located at the mouth of the river Trave in Lübeck Bay. It began life as a fortress built by Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, in the 12th century to guard the mouth of the Trave, and the Danes s ...

–

Liepāja Liepāja (; liv, Līepõ; see other names) is a state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest-city in the Kurzeme Region and the third-largest city in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an important ice ...

: ''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 - Holyhead.

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