Stena Line picks Norsepower rotor sails for brand new methanol-ready NewMax ferry

Swedish ferry company Stena Line has decided to equip its methanol hybrid newbuild roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) vessel with a wind propulsion solution to be provided by Finish cleantech company Norsepower.

As informed, the duo has signed an agreement for the delivery of two Norsepower rotor sails on the NewMax hybrid ferry Stena Connecta.

Scheduled for delivery in late 2025, Stena Connecta is one of two new ships ordered by the company to serve the Belfast – Heysham route, a key trade corridor across the Irish Sea where wind conditions are said to be favorable for wind-assisted propulsion.

Its sister vessel, Stena Futura, is currently being fitted out ahead of entering service in autumn 2025. It will be delivered as “rotor sail ready”, as per Stena Line.

Launched last month at Jinling Weihai Shipyard in China, the 147-meter-long Stena Connecta will feature two 28x4m Norsepower rotor sails, projected to deliver up to 9% fuel savings on the planned trade route.

“Stena Line recently launched our new ship, Stena Connecta, into the water and it will now be fitted out with two rotor sails. These sails will harness wind power to provide auxiliary propulsion to the vessel, therefore reducing fuel consumption and emissions. Innovations such as this are key to futureproofing our vessels and to reaching our emissions targets,” Dennis Tetzlaff, Chief Operating Officer Fleet, at Stena Line, commented.

To note, Stena Line aims to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent by 2030.

Stena Connecta is said to represent a step forward in sustainable shipping, built to operate on methanol. The vessel is part of a broader initiative to integrate sustainable technologies.

To minimize environmental impact during the project’s execution phase, the NPRS will be manufactured at Norsepower’s new production facility in Yancheng, China, and delivered directly to the shipyard. This approach reduces costs and emissions, according to the two companies.

In 2015, Stena Line became the first ferry operator to run a vessel on methanol with the conversion of Stena Germanica. Last year, Stena Line and UK class society Lloyd’s Register announced they would work together on a project to retrofit two more vessels with methanol propulsion.

The project will see the Stena Superfast VII and Stena Superfast VIII RoRo ferries, which operate on the Scotland to Northern Ireland route between Cairnryan and Belfast, converted to methanol dual-fuel propulsion with the vessels transferring class to LR.