Operator, Stena Line marked a milestone towards sustainable shipping last week with a steel-cutting ceremony for its first ‘NewMax’ hybrid ro-ro freight-ferry under construction in Weihai, China and which is to serve on the Irish Sea.
Last year the Swedish owned company announced that two new hybrid freight ferries had been ordered from Stena RoRo and destined for the Belfast-Heysham route, with the first newbuild due to enter service in autumn 2025.
The ‘NewMax’ vessels are of a unique design with the most efficient hull form to maximise freight volumes and their addition to the route will boost freight capacity by 80% compared to current ship capacity.
The new hybrid ships will play a key role in Stena Line’s journey to sustainable fuel as they will both be able to operate on methanol fuel. Currently the company is working closely with the supply chain of methanol on securing future volumes of e-methanol to fulfil its strategic ambition of shifting to renewable fuels.
In addition to the multi-million pound investment in the ships, Stena Line announced last month it had signed an agreement with Peel Ports to operate in Heysham Port until the end of the century, reaffirming its confidence in the continued success of the route.
As part of the new agreement between the ferry firm and the ports' group is an aim to secure the shore infrastructure to provide additional electrical capacity to facilitate the future goal of powering the new ships by shore power. The new vessels will have in-built technologies that can take advantage of both battery propulsion and shore power. The ships will be futureproofed with a progressive propulsion that ultimately will allow the vessels to be decarbonised.
Commenting on the start of construction Paul Grant, Trade Director Irish Sea, Stena Line said: “We’re excited to announce that the steel cutting has taken place for our state-of-the-art ‘NewMax’ ships for our Heysham to Belfast route - a landmark moment for the service. An important trading corridor across the Irish Sea, we have seen significant growth in the service in recent years and the extra boost in capacity that the ships will provide will help us to meet customer demand.
“The capabilities of these new hybrid ships to operate on alternative fuel will also be instrumental in reaching Stena Line’s ambitious sustainability targets and achieving our goal of establishing future-proofed fossil free shipping corridors.”
Phil Hall, Mersey Port Director at Peel Ports Group, said: “We have worked in partnership with Stena Line for over 25 years, and this latest investment in the future of the Belfast-Heysham route is testament to the success of that partnership.
“We share a commitment to making our operations more sustainable, and we’re very excited to explore ways to use our port infrastructure to power these new vessels from the electrical grid, which will be a major step towards achieving our ambition to become a net-zero port operator by 2040.”
