Stena Line shares construction milestones on methanol-ready hybrid NewMaxes

Swedish ferry company Stena Line has reached another milestone in the construction of its methanol-ready NewMax hybrid ships, having held a joint launch and keel-laying ceremony last week.

During the ceremony at the the China Merchants Jinling Shipyard, Weihai, Stena Futura was released into the water for the first time. At the same time, the construction began on the second ferry, to be named Stena Connecta.

Once operational, Stena Connecta and Stena Futura will enhance freight capacity by 40% on the Belfast-Heysham route in response to an increase in customer demand for services between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Furthermore, the two NewMax hybrid vessels are expected to play a key role in Stena Line’s journey to sustainable fuel as they will both be able to operate on methanol fuel. They will also be enhanced with built in technologies that will be able to utilize both battery propulsion and shore power, when available.

Stena Line said it is working closely with methanol suppliers, ensuring future volumes of e-methanol and fulfilling its strategic ambition of shifting to renewable fuels and cutting 30% of its CO2 emissions by 2030. ​

“It’s exciting to witness the progress of our new ships, to future-proof our fleet and set new industry standards to be part of the solution to climate change. These new vessels are the first RoRo ships equipped with a multi hybrid solution, enabling them to operate on battery, biofuel, and methanol. This not only complies with upcoming regulations but also reduces our CO2 emissions, aiding our customers in achieving their scope 3 targets,” Niclas Mårtensson, CEO Stena Line, commented.

“Stena Futura and Stena Connecta will provide a crucial link across the Irish Sea, meeting the continued growth and demand from freight customers on this route. We’re confident that the increased capacity will be well-received by the market when we welcome Stena Futura to the Irish Sea in Autumn 2025.”

To remind, in January this year, the first steel was cut for the 147-meter-long Stena Futura. Less than six months later, China Merchants Jinling Shipyard hosted the keel-laying ceremony for the newbuilding.

The company recently embarked on a project to retrofit two fast roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) vessels with methanol propulsion. The conversion, carried out in partnership with class society Lloyd’s Register (LR), will see the Stena Superfast VII and Stena Superfast VIII RoRo ferries, which operate on Scotland to Northern Ireland route between Cairnryan and Belfast, converted to methanol dual-fuel propulsion with the vessels transferring class to LR.