''Stena Spirit'' is a large

cruiseferry A cruiseferry is a ship that combines the features of a cruise ship and a Ro-Pax ferry. Many passengers travel with the ships for the cruise experience, staying only a few hours at the destination port or not leaving the ship at all, while ot ...

owned by

Stena Line Stena Line is a Swedish Shipping line, shipping line company and one of the world's largest ferry operators. It services Denmark, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Finland and Sweden. Stena Line is a ...

. She entered service in 1988 as ''Stena Scandinavica'' and after a major refit in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

is now in service between

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 ...

and

Gdynia Gdynia is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With an estimated population of 257,000, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk ...

History

''Stena Scandinavica'' was the second of four ferries ordered in 1980 by

for Scandinavian routes. She was launched in 1983 as ''Stena Germanica'', but problems at the construction yard delayed her completion until 1988 when she entered service on the

–

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

route, joining her sister ''Stena Germanica'' (now ). The remaining two hulls were planned to be ''Stena Polonica'' (completed for

ANEK Lines ANEK Lines (Ανώνυμη Ναυτιλιακή Εταιρεία Κρήτης, ''Anonymi Naftiliaki Eteria Kritis'', Anonymous Shipping Company of Crete) is one of the largest passenger shipping companies in Greece. It was founded in 1967 by nu ...

as ''El Venizelos'') and ''Stena Baltica'' (now ; lengthened by over 50 m, but never completed). In April 2011 ''Stena Scandinavia'' was replaced on the

–

route by a new . Following a major refit she was renamed ''Stena Spirit'' and entered service between

and

Gdynia accident, Poland

On 17 May 2012 at 8:45am, the Stena Spirit was departing from

Ferry Terminal en route to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

when she became involved in an accident at the Baltic Container Terminal. The

bow BOW as an acronym may refer to: * Bag of waters, amniotic sac * Bartow Municipal Airport (IATA:BOW), a public use airport near Bartow, Florida, United States * Basic operating weight of an aircraft * BOW counties, made of Brown, Outagamie, and Winn ...

of the

struck one of the

Gantry crane A gantry crane is a Crane (machine), crane built atop a wikt:gantry, gantry, which is a structure used to straddle an object or workspace. They can range from enormous "full" gantry cranes, capable of lifting some of the heaviest loads in the wor ...

s causing it to catastrophically collapse onto the quay below as she was manoeuvring. Three employees of the container terminal were injured, all requiring hospital treatment. Two of the Three staff members are said to be in a serious condition. None of the passengers or crew on board the Stena Spirit were injured.

Incident at sea

On June 29, 2023, a 38-year-old woman and her 7-year-old son fell overboard. The incident occurred around halfway between Gdynia, Poland and Karlskrona, Sweden. At 16.20 local time, the "man overboard" alarm was sounded on board the ferry and the engines were stopped. A MOB was launched and rescue services from Sweden, Germany and Poland participated in the search. At around 17.30, both victims had been located and was brought by helicopter to a hospital in Karlskrona, Sweden. Both victims died in the incident. In December 2023, it was concluded, that the incident was to be categorized as a "suicide/murder". Surveillance tapes from the ferry and interviews with witnessed determined that the cause was a deliberate jump overboard by the mother of the 7-year-old boy. She had him in her arms, when she jumped from the ferry. The Swedish authorities closed the case after this conclusion.

References

External links

Ferries of Germany Ferries of Sweden 1983 ships Ships of the Stena Line {{Ferry-stub