Stena RoRo has placed a firm order with China Merchants Industry (CMI) Weihai Shipyard for two vessels of a new C-Flexer type with options for an additional four.
The deal is considered an important step in the company’s long-term strategy to offer flexible and future-proof ro-ro ships to the global market. The vessels have been developed by Stena RoRo in cooperation with the Italian design company NAOS Ship and Boat Design.
Per Westling, CEO Stena RoRo, said: “With Stena RoRo’s extensive experience and market knowledge, combined with NAOS’ outstanding expertise in designing fuel-efficient ro-ro and ro-pax vessels, we have developed ships that are built for today and designed for tomorrow.”
The first two C-Flexer vessels are scheduled for delivery in March and June 2029 respectively. The optional vessels could be delivered at three-month intervals thereafter.
The decade long partnership between Stena RoRo and China Merchants Industry has so far resulted in 17 vessels ordered at the shipyard. The cooperation began in 2016 with an order for 4 E-Flexer ro-pax vessels and has since grown to a total of 15 vessels, 12 of which have already been delivered. In addition, two ro-ro vessels of the Stena NewMax concept have been delivered.
Westling added: “The cooperation between CMI Weihai and Stena RoRo has been crucial to the success of the ro-pax and ro-ro concepts delivered so far. It has enabled us to supply both Stena Line, as well as external customers, with tailor-made vessels delivered on time and with very high quality.”
The new C-Flexer design offers flexibility, enabling Stena RoRo to provide customers with vessels tailored to their specific operational needs. A highly developed hullform, multi-fuel engines and a scalable battery-hybrid system ensures that the vessels are future-proofed and can be progressively ‘greened’ in line with both technological advances and regulatory developments. The vessels are 200m long, capable of 21 knot speed, and can be built in two versions: three decks with 3,400 lane metres rolling freight capacity, and four-decks, offering 4,750 lane metres.
Westling concluded: “In the future the C-Flexer will be able to operate entirely on batteries. Until then, the installed diesel-battery hybrid system will provide the necessary flexibility and redundancy for many years to come.”
Image: impression of Stena RoRo C-Flexer 200 container version (credit: Peter Mild/Stena RoRo)
