Stena Scandinavica in Gdansk, 11 January 2018

I haven't been too successful at keeping up the planned update schedule of putting up a new entry every weekend. But at least we're back to weekly updates, even if the update day seems to be Monday. And on this particular Monday, we are looking back to last January, when I was arriving at Gdansk onboard the Baltic Princess (a trip on which you can read more here) and encountered some slightly rarer ferries for me, even if they were in rubbish weather.

Stena Scandinavica

IMO 9235517
Built 2003, Hyundai Heavy Industries Ulsan, South Korea
Tonnage 55 050 GT
Length 241,06 m
Width 29,90 m
Draught 6,30 m
1 300 passengers
1 040 berths
300 cars
4 220 lane metres
4 MAN diesels, combined 25 920 kW
2 propellers
3 bow thrusters
Speed 22,5 knots

Unlike the other ferries seen at Gdansk (Mont St Michel, Pride of Rotterdam and Spirit of British Columbia), the Stena Scandinavica is a ship I have encountered before, and you can read the brief history of the ship, as well as look at some additional photos, in the first entry on her. What makes out current photos particularly interesting is the fact the ship was still carrying the special funnel colours celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Gothenburg-Kiel route.

So, the photos below show the Stena Scandinavica at the Remontowa shipyard in Gdansk on 11 January 2018, photographed from onboard the Baltic Princess as she was arriving at the same shipyard for a refit. As per the usual, click on the images to see them in larger size.

I wouldn't have minded if the weather was better (although had the sun been shining, the side of the ship facing the camera would have been in the shade, so I'm not sure if the photos would have been good anyway).

The Stena Scandinavia has arrived that same morning, but work on her was already much more advanced. Also notice the Mont St Michel in the background.

A bit of a tight squeeze to the get the entire ship into one frame, but it was doable.

Kships will return. Unless something else comes up, I think next time we'll round up the Gdansk visit with some photos of the Spirit of British Columbia.

Stena Saga in Oslo, 24 January 2017

Almost two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of visiting YSA Design (perhaps better known under their old name Yran & Storbraaten) in Oslo and interviewing the company's owners and staff for an article that will be featured in the next issue of Cruise Business Review. I had hoped to take some ship photos during my time there, but for the most part the weather was atrocious with a thick fog that made taking any photos of quality impossible - that is, until my last few hours there.

Stena Saga

IMO 7911545
Name history: Silvia Regina, Stena Britannica, Stena Saga
Built 1981 Wärtsilä Turku, Finland
Tonnage 33 3967 GT
Length 166,10 m
Width 29,06 m
Draught 6,70 m
Ice class 1 A Super
2 000 passengers
1 601 passenger berths
510 cars
4 Wärtsilä-Pielstick diesels, combined 22 948 kW
2 controllable pitch propellers
2 bow thrusters
1 sterns thruster
Speed 22 knots

The Stena Saga started life as the Silvia Regina, the second of Silja Line's "Futurum" ferries for the Helsinki-Stockholm line. Although contracted by Rederi AB Svea and named by her namesake, Queen Silvia of Sweden, the ship was, in fact, delivered to Suomen Yritysrahoitus and registered under the Finnish flag. For the first six months of her life, the ship carried the black-and-white funnel colours of Rederi AB Svea; but from the beginning of 1982 Svea's shipping operations were taken over by their parent company Johnson Line, and the Silvia Regina's funnel received Johnson's blue-and-yellow on black funnel markings. Soon afterwards, in February of the same year, the ship sailed back to her builders for a radical reconstruction of her bow, the original bow lines having been found to perform poorly in rough seas.

In late 1986, Johnson Line bought the ship outright and she was re-registered under the Swedish flag. The Johnson ownership turned out to be a short interlude, as in spring 1988 she was resold to Stena Line, but chartered back to Johnson until the delivery of the Silja Symphony. The construction of the latter ship was radically delayed by the bankruptcy of Wärtsilä Marine in 1989, and thus the Silvia Regina could be taken over by her owners only in May 1991. During a refit at Bremerhaven, the ship was renamed Stena Britannica and in June she was placed on the Hoek van Holland-Harwich service, which Stena has taken over when they bought Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland in 1989 - amusingly, one of the other bidders for SMZ had been Johnson Line.

Sailing parallel to the Koningin Beatrix, which had been purpose-built for the route, the Stena Britannica did not prove to be an unqualified success. On the other hand, Stena came to realise the Stena Britannica would be well-suited to their more cruise-oriented routes. Thus, in early 1994, the Stena Britannica was renamed Stena Saga and moved to Oslo-Frederikshavn(-Göteborg) route. Swapping routes with her was the previous Stena Saga, which was now renamed Stena Europe.

The Stena Saga proved a success on the 24-hour cruise route from Oslo and has remained there to this day. In 2008, her funnel was altered with the removal of the 'spoiler' aft (made nescessary by the installation of new, stability-altering equipment onboard). Another refit in 2011 saw the addition of a new spa area in the forward superstructure, further altering the ship's appearance.

The photos below show the Stena Saga in Oslo in the afternoon of 24 January 2017, photographed from the Oslo Opera House and Sørenga. As per the usual, click on the images to see them in larger size.

The Stena Saga shares the quay with DFDS' Oslo-Copenhagen ships, which means there's some moving around as the ships are simultaneously in port.

Here, the Stena Saga rests at the cruise quay (there are, in fact, two quays at the shared terminal - I have no idea why only one is used).

And of course, at the time when the light would have been perfect, the ship shifted quays. So it was time for some arty long-exposure shots.

Resting at the terminal...

...with the little harbour sculpture in the foreground (again).

Notice that Oslo harbour had ice when Helsinki did not.

Kships will return at latest in about a week, when we'll look at photos from onboard Viking Line's refitted Viking XPRS.

Stena Germanica in Kiel, 23 May 2011

Stena Germanica

IMO 9145176
Built 2001, Astilleros Españoles Puerta Real, Spain
Tonnage 46 353 GT
Length 240,10 m
Width 28,70 m
Draught 6,00 m
1 300 passengers
1 067 berths
300 cars
3 907 lane metres
4 Sulzer diesels, combined 24 000 kW
2 propellers
3 bow thrusters
Speed 21,5 knots

The current Stena Germanica (not to be confused with the previous Stena Germanica) was the fourth and final ship of the Seapacer class ordered by Stena Line from the Astilleros Españoles shipyard. The first two ships in the class were eventually delivered not to Stena Line but to Finnlines as their Finnclipper and Finneagle. The last two ships were delivered to Stena Line in 2000-2001 and became their Stena Britannica and Stena Hollandica, the latter being the subject of this entry.

On delivery the two Seapacers were planed on the Harwich-Hoek van Holland route. However, after just three years in service the Stena Britannica was replaced by a newer, larger Stena Britannica and the old ship sold to Finnlines to join her sisters in their fleet as the Finnfellow. The Stena Hollandica was then paired on the Hoek-Harwich route with a not-identical ship.

To come with increased demands of the route, the Stena Hollandica and her route-mate were both lenghtened to 240 metres in 2007. In case of the Stena Hollandica this meant putting in a 53-meter midsection. To cope with the increased mass the midsection also included an additional engine (or several) with it's own separate exhaust pipe. However, by this time Stena Line were already building two new ships that would eventually replace the Stena Hollandica and her routemate.

In 2010 the new Stena Hollandica was delivered to Stena Line. Resultingly the old Stena Hollandica was drydocked and rebuilt for the Gothenburg-Kiel route, on which she entered service later that year as Stena Germanica III. The III was soon dropped from her name however, and the ship became just Stena Germanica.

The photographs below is of the Stena Germanica at Schwedenkai in Kiel on 23 May 2011. Click on the image to view larger size.

Not quite as good-looking as her not-lenghtened Finnlines sisters. Unfortunately the ship's small third funnel is on the side not visible on this pic.

Stena Scandinavica in Kiel, 22 May 2011

Stena Scandinavica

IMO 9235517
Built 2003, Hyundai Heavy Industries Ulsan, South Korea
Tonnage 55 050 GT
Length 241,06 m
Width 29,90 m
Draught 6,30 m
1 300 passengers
1 040 berths
300 cars
4 220 lane metres
4 MAN diesels, combined 25 920 kW
2 propellers
3 bow thrusters
Speed 22,5 knots

The histories of Stena Line ships tend to be confusing as the company uses route-specific names, with new ships on any given route inheriting the names of the old ships on the same route.

The current Stena Scandinavica is the fourth ship to bear that name. She was built in 2003 as the Stena Britannica II for the Harwich-Hoek van Holland service. Despite the number in her name she was, in fact, the fourth Stena Britannica. The II was dropped from her name during the same year and she became simply Stena Britannica. (Later the same year a sister ship was delivered, but instead of joining the Stena Britannica on the Harwich-Hoek service she went to the Dublin-Holyhead service as the Stena Adventurer).

In early 2007 the Stena Britannica was rebuilt at Lloyd's Werft in Bremerhaven, where a 30-meter midsection was installed. Following the lengthening she returned to the Harwich-Hook service. By this time two new 63 000 GT ships were under construction for Stena Line, and in late 2007 Stena made public the decision that the new ships would be placed on the Hoek-Harwich route on delivery in 2010.

In preparation for the delivery of the new Stena Britannica (V), the Stena Britannica (IV) was renamed Britannica in September 2010. A month later the Britannica was withdrawn from the Hoek-Harwich route and sailed to Gdynia in Poland where she was rebuilt in the Stena Scandinavica (IV). In April 2011 she entered service on the Gothenburg-Kiel route. (I told you this would be confusing).

The photographs below show the Stena Scandinavica departing Kiel on the evening of 22 May 2011. As you can see the weather was far from ideal for photography, so I shall try to balance quality with quantity. Click on the individual images to view full size.

Reversing away from the Schwedenkai terminal. The Kiel Fjord is so narrow towards the city that ships as long as the Stena Scandinavica have to reverse quite a long way when in- or outbound.

Turning in front of the HDW Kiel shipyard.

The 2007 lengthening did not exactly improve the looks of this ship. The rebuild from Stena Britannica to Stena Scandinavica further damaged her looks with the addition of new cabins midship.

The refit into Stena Scandinavica also gave the ship the current Stena Line livery, replacing the older simple one without wavy lines towards the aft and much smaller company name texts. Refreshingly, the company have retained the same typeface for ship name texts since the late 1960s.

Interestingly, the current Stena Scandinavica carries less passengers than her predecessor. For the past decades the general trend on the Baltic has been for ships to carry more passengers (and often less freight) than the previous generation.

Making good time (tm) towards Gothenburg.

Stena Germanica, 7 October 2006

Stena Germanica

IMO 7907659
Built 1987, Gdynia Stocnia i Komuni Paryski, Poland
Tonnage 39 178 GT
Length 175,37 m
Width 30,80 m
Draught 6,75 m
2 500 passengers
2 364 berths
569 cars
1 268 lanemetres
4 Zgoda-Sulzer diesels, combined 33 098 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 21,5 knots

To clarify that which should have been evident from the build date, this is not the current (third) Stena Germanica but it's predecessor.

The second Stena Germanica was the first of four large identical ferries ordered by Stena Line from Polish shipyards in 1979. The first ship was originally planned to be called Stena Scandinavica and the second Stena Germanica, but the names were swapped during construction. The first ship of the series was launched in 1981, but due to the political unrest in Poland her and her sisters' construction was radically delayed. In 1986, seven years after the ships were ordered, none of them were completed and Stena renegotiated their build contracts. The first two ships, Stena Germanica and Stena Scandinavica would be completed with help from workers brought in from Sweden, while the order of the second pair, to be named Stena Polonica and Stena Baltica, was cancelled.

(The Stena Polonica was sold in 1988 to Fred. Olsen who planned on completing her for their Kristiansand-Hirsthals service as the Bonanza. This plan never materialized and the ship was resold in 1989 to ANEK who had the ship towed Perama where she was completed in 1992 as Kydon II though she was soon renamed El Venizelos. The El Venizelos has a slightly different superstructure from the first two sisters. The Stena Baltica meanwhile was only completed up to deck 7 at the time Stena cancelled the order and much equipment already installed, such as the engines, were stripped. In 1989 the hull was sold to Regency Cruises for completion into the cruise ship Regent Sky and towed to Perama to be completed. The bankruptcy of Regency Cruises' parent company in 1995 left the ship again laid up and incomplete. The ship, completely different from her sisters in the shape of her superstructure, has been laid up since, though in 2007 she was sold to new owners who supposedly planned to restart the construction process. In 2008 she was renamed Zoe).

Returning to the actual subject of this entry from the fascinating detour, the Stena Germanica arrived in Gothenburg in early 1987 and her fitting out was completed there. In April 1987 she was finally delivered to Stena and placed on Gothenburg-Kiel service, with extra sailings from Gothenburg to Frederikshavn during the summer months. After less than a year in service the Stena Germanica had to be drydocked with her bulbous bow rebuilt and an extra stalising plane fitted in her rear. In 1993 she was rebuilt with extra cabins and in side sponsons were added and some of the cabins were removed to create more space for freight. In 2007 her interiors were again rebuilt.

Following the deliry of Stena's new huge Stena Hollandica in 2010, the previous Stena Hollandica was transferred to the Gothenburg-Kiel route and she was renamed Stena Germanica. The old Stena Germanica was again rebuilt, renamed Stena Vision and entered service on the Karlskrona-Gdynia route in November 2011.

The photographs below show the Stena Germanica at Gothenburg on 7 October 2006. Photographed from onboard the Princess of Scandinvia. Click on the images to view full size.

Boxy 1980s design. Perhaps not the best advertisement in ship form for the company.

I find the open design of the aft superstructure particularly fascinating.

Stena Jutlandica, 7 October 2006

Stena Jutlandica

IMO 9125944
Built 1996, Van der Gissen de Noord Ijssel, Netherlands
Tonnage 29 691 GT
Length 182,35 m
Width 28,43 m
Draught 6,00 m
1 500 passengers
200 berths
550 cars or 122 trucks
600 metres railway tracks
4 MAN B&W diesels, combined 25 920 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 21,5 knots

Stena Line is a company known for - amongst other things - recycling the same names for ships serving on the same route. The current Stena Jutlandica is in fact the third ship with that name to sail on the Gothenburg-Frederikshavn route. When completed in 1996 she was in fact briefly named Stena Jutlandica III as the ship she replaced retained the name Stena Jutlandica for approximately a month after the delivery of the new Stena Jutlandica. (Confused already?) Very little else to say about this ship, actually. Since delivery she has remained on the same route without notable incidents or changes.

The photographs below show the Stena Jutlandica outbound from Gothenburg to Frederikshavn on 7 October 2006, photographed from onboard DFDS's Princess of Scandinavia. Click on the images for larger size.

Can't resist a little panoramic fiddling showing the Stena Jutlandica and the Swedish coastline.

Basically the Stena Jutlandica is just a ropax ferry without much thought put on her exterior design... but she looks surprisingly good all things considered.