In a significant move, Stena Vision’s comeback to Rosslare-Cherbourg, as previously reported, completed its first sailing to France this Good Friday and is to remain operating beyond the summer, as its predecessor may not return from Scandinavia, writes Jehan Ashmore.
Replacing the long-serving Ireland-France ropax Stena Horizon, currently heading for Scandinavia, is the much larger, luxurious Stena Vision, which too will serve a single-ship service, a first for the cruise ferry on the continental route. In addition, the reintroduction for Stena is more comparable to rivals Brittany Ferries and Irish Ferries, albeit the latter operating out of Dublin.
With its more extensive facilities, offering a wider range of cabins, including pet cabins, along with its Swedish heritage, this is reflected in the Pure Nordic Spa with its jacuzzi and sauna, which is a novel feature. According to Stena, some onboard facilities, such as the spa, will not be open to passengers until 1 June; however, this is in stark contrast to the basic facilities of Patria Seaways, whose charter from DFDS Ferry ceased recently, while Stena Horizon covered the dry-docking of Stena Estrid, which too has pet cabins, but more have been added since its return on the Dublin-Holyhead route, rejoining the larger Stena Adventurer in readiness for this busy Easter Bank Holiday weekend to include booked-out sailings by duty-free day-trippers.
Since it made a debut with a boost in capacity on the continental route in 2023, Stena Vision considerably generated business but, somewhat surprisingly, was withdrawn last year in October, with Stena citing a ‘strategic review,’ which led rival Brittany Ferries to sweep in by increasing capacity on their service to Cherbourg. Another factor to be considered is that the Stena Vision is a thirsty ferry for fuel, so how sustainable will its reintroduction be beyond this high season, should the Horizon not be available from the Baltic, or can another more economical and suitable ship be secured on the long-distance route in 2026?
To reflect briefly on Stena Horizon, which inaugurated the Swedish company’s first Ireland-France ferry more than a decade ago following the acquisition of Celtic Link Ferries, and also taking on the chartered ropax Celtic Horizon. Originally this was Caronte & Touriste’s Cartour Beta, built by Italian shipbuilder Cantiere Navale Visentini, serving on the Strait of Messina between Italy and Sicily, and renamed by its owners, the O’Flaherty Brothers of Kilmore Quay, Co. Wexford.
Horizon Heads to Scandinavia for New Baltic Sea Role
On completion of its final dry-docking cover sailing involving a sailing from Dublin to Holyhead on Tuesday, the ropax departed to Rosslare to destore its duty-free contents before continuing its repositioning voyage to Scandinavia. As of last night, it was tracked to the North Sea, positioned offshore of the German/Denmark border and veering towards the Jutland peninsula.
At noon today, Horizon’ is offshore of the peninsula and entering the Skagerrak Sea with Norway to the north and Sweden to the east.
The larger-capacity Stena Horizon is set to replace the 2008-built Stena Livia on the Travemunde, Germany-Liepaja, Latvia route, which is three hours longer than the 17-hour Ireland-France route. As for the Stena Livia, it has been sold to New Zealand interests, StraitNZ, whose Bluebridge Cook Strait Ferries’ inter-islander service runs between Wellington (North Island) and Picton (South Island).
In another Celtic twist, Stena Livia was launched as LD Lines Norman Voyager to serve their new France-UK/France-Ireland route through Rosslare, which eventually led to Celtic Link Ferries replacing the aging Diplomat with a sub-charter from LD Lines. As the French ferry subsidiary of Louis Dreyfus had originally operated their Le Havre-Rosslare route after a long absence from Irish Ferries, CLF would ultimately get involved and change the port to Cherbourg and abandon its link with Portsmouth, from where LD had run but from Le Havre.
When Stena Livia enters Cook Strait service, it will also boost vehicle capacity by 10% with route partner Connemara, as the name clearly indicates its Irish connection, having served Brittany Ferries former Cork-Santander 'Économie' route initially launched by Kerry. Once again, both of them are 'Visentini's, along with the vessel it is to replace in August, the Strait Feronia, previously with Stena from their Baltic operations and beforehand various careers on the Irish Sea, so given the ferry world, another full circle!
Currently also operating Stena’s southern Baltic Sea route is the Stena Flavia, likewise of Livia, built in 2008, and similar tonnage to the Horizon’ of 27,552, as they were also built by Visentini but at different shipyards.
The proliferation of these vessels led to them simply being known as the ‘Visentinis,’ built of similar design with spartan facilities yet functional; however, some owners, like Stena, invested to upgrade them to their standards. Since further upgrades took place of other tonnage and with the introduction of the newer E-Flexers, they are deemed less luxurious even by current standards.
