STENA LINE

'Stena Line' is one of the world's largest ferry operators, with ferry services serving Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands and Poland. Stena Line is a major unit of Stena AB, itself a part of the Stena Sphere, a grouping of Stena AB, Stena Metall AB and Stena Sessan AB.

Contents

History

Routes and Ships

Former Ships

External links

References

History

Stena Line was founded in, and is still operating from, Gothenburg, Sweden by Sten A. Olsson when he acquired Skagenlinjen between Gothenburg, Sweden and Fredrikshavn, Denmark in 1962.
In 1972, Stena Line was one of the very first ferry operators in Europe to introduce a computer based reservation system for the travel business area. In 1978 the freight business area also started operating a computer based reservation system.
The first freight-only route started between Gothenburg in Sweden and Kiel in Germany. The ship was ''M/S Stena Transporter''.
In the 1980s Stena Line acquired two Scandinavian ferry operators and one Dutch operation.
Stena Line bought SMZ Crown Line Holland in 1989 and incorporated the Hoek van Holland - Harwich route as a Stena Line route for North Sea.
Stena Line doubled in size in 1990 with the acquisition of Sealink British Ferries, which was formerly known as Sealink until its purchase by Sea Containers Ltd in 1984. This 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 also ordered two smaller 900-passengers HSS vessels to operate between Göteborg in Sweden and Frederikshavn in Denmark. Only one of these smaller fastcraft have been finished, the other has been scrapped due to shipyard bankruptcy after being finished for only 30%.
In 1998, Stena put its operations from Dover and Newhaven together with P&O European Ferries Ltd. under the name P&O Stena Line. In 2002, P&O, which already owned 60% of the shares, also acquired Stena's 40%, thus becoming the sole owner of P&O Stena Line.
In 2000 Stena Line in turn purchased Scandlines AB, a Swedish ferry operator. In 2003 Stena Line announced a £70 million redevelopment of its Belfast and Scottish terminals.

Routes and Ships

★ United Kingdom Domestic

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★ Stranraer—Belfast: ''Stena Voyager'' and ''Stena Caledonia''

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★ Fleetwood—Larne: ''Stena Leader'', ''Stena Seafarer'', ''Stena Pioneer''

★ Great Britain—Ireland

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★ Fishguard—Rosslare: ''Stena Europe'', ''Stena Lynx III'' (Express)

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★ Holyhead—Dún Laoghaire: ''Stena Explorer''

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★ Holyhead—Dublin Port: ''Stena Adventurer'', ''Sea Seatrader''

★ Netherlands—Great Britain (run by Stena Line Holland BV)

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★ Hoek van Holland—Harwich: ''Stena Britannica'', ''Stena Hollandica''

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★ Hoek van Holland—Killingholme: ''Stena Trader'', ''Stena Traveller''

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★ Rotterdam—Harwich: ''Stena Partner'', ''Stena Transfer'', ''Stena Transporter''

★ Sweden—Denmark

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★ Göteborg—Fredrikshavn: ''Stena Jutlandica'', ''Stena Danica'', ''Stena Carisma'', ''Stena Scanrail''

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★ Varberg—Grenaa: ''Stena Nautica''

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★ Helsingborg—Helsingör - (Scandlines AB): ''Tycho Brahe'', ''Aurora af Helsingborg'', ''Hamlet'',

★ Sweden—Germany

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★ Göteborg—Kiel: ''Stena Germanica'', ''Stena Scandinavica''

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★ Göteborg—Travemünde: ''Stena Carrier'', ''Stena Freighter''

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★ Trelleborg—Sassnitz (Scandlines): ''Trelleborg'', ''Sassnitz''

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★ Trelleborg—Rostock (Scandlines): ''Mecklenburg Vorpommern'', ''Skåne''

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★ Trelleborg—Travemünde (Scandlines): ''Götaland''

★ Norway—Denmark

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★ Oslo - Fredrikshavn: ''Stena Saga''

★ Denmark—Germany

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★ Rødby—Puttgarden (Scandlines): ''Prins Richard'', ''Prinsesse Benedikte'', ''Schleswig-Holstein'', ''Deutschland'', "Holger Danske"

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★ Gedser—Rostock (Scandlines): ''Kronprins Frederik'', ''Prins Joachim'', ''Thjelvar''

★ Sweden—Poland

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★ Karlskrona—Gdynia: ''Stena Baltica'', ''Stena Nordica'', ''Finnarrow''

★ Denmark Domestic

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★ Bøjden—Fynshav (Scandlines): ''Thor Sydfyen''

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★ Spodsbjerg—Tårs (Scandlines): ''Frigg Sydfyen'', ''Odin Sydfyen'', ''Spodsbjerg''

Former Ships

External links

★ Stena Line - Corporate site

★ Stena Line Reservations - UK online ticket reservations and home pages

★ Stena Line Reservations - Swedish online ticket reservations and home pages

References