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 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.