Stena Line
Stena Line
Stena Line is one of the world’s largest ferry operators. They have three business areas - Scandinavia, North Sea and Irish Sea - with ferries serving Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands and Poland. Their network consists of 18 strategically located ferry routes, and they have a modern fleet of 34 vessels, including fast ferries (HSS), traditional combi-ferries, RoPax-ferries for freight and passengers, and pure cargo ships.
History
Stena Line was founded in Gothenburg, Sweden. The first freight-only route started between Gothenburg and Kiel in Germany. During the 1980s, Stena acquired three other ferry companies. In 1981, Sessan Line, Stena’s biggest competitor on Sweden-Denmark routes, was acquired and incorporated into Stena Line.
Stena Line doubled in size in 1990 with the acquisition of Sealink British Ferries from Sea Containers Ltd. This first became Sealink Stena Line, then Stena Sealink Line and finally Stena Line (UK), which now operates all of Stena’s ferry services between Great Britain and Ireland. In 1996, Stena Line introduced its 20,000 tonne HSS (High-speed Sea Service) vessels, which operated from Belfast-Stranraer, Holyhead-Dún Laoghaire and Hoek van Holland-Harwich.
In addition to the three 1500-passenger HSS vessels, Stena Line ordered two smaller 900-passenger HSS vessels to operate on the Gothenburg-Frederikshavn route. Due to the bankruptcy of the shipyard, only the first of these vessels was ever completed. In 1998, Stena’s operations from Dover and Newhaven were merged with P&O European Ferries to form P&O Stena Line, 40% of which was owned by Stena and 60% by P&O. In 2002, P&O acquired all of Stena’s shares in the company, thus becoming the sole owner of P&O Stena Line, which soon changed its name to P&O Ferries.