On 3 September 2022, a ceremony was held to name the new ferry Stena Estelle which has entered service on the Gdynia-Karlskrona route.
The champagne was broken on the side of the ferry’s bow by the Deputy Mayor of Gdynia for Economy, Katarzyna Gruszecka-Spychała, the ship’s godmother.
“Sail on the Baltic Sea, connecting Gdynia with Karlskrona, Poland with Sweden. Be a joy for the crew and passengers on every voyage. Bring glory to those who built you! I name you Stena Estelle”, said Katarzyna, and then, in the time-honoured tradition, broke the champagne on the side of the ship.
The ceremony was attended by representatives of local and central government authorities as well as the Port of Gdynia Authority and many companies from the shipping, forwarding and logistics sectors.
Among the guests were Minister Marcin Horała, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy, Jacek Sadaj, President of the Port of Gdynia Authority, Dorota Arciszewska-Mielewczyk, President of the Polish Ocean Lines and Magdalena Pramfelt, Honorary Consul General of Sweden in Gdansk.
From Stena Line, those present included Dan Sten Olsson, president of Stena AB Group and owner of Stena Line, Niclas Mårtensson, CEO of Stena Line and Marek Kiersnowski, director of Stena Line Polska Sp. z o.o. and trade director of the Gdynia-Karlskrona route. 250 friends and associates of Stena Line witnessed the official naming of the ship.
Stena Estelle is one of the largest ferries in the Baltic Sea in regular operation. She is 240m long, offers space for 1,200 people and can accommodate up to 200 trucks on 3,600 metres of car decks. She is not only its size that is unique, but also its construction.
She is energy efficient thanks to its optimised design. It can be converted to run on gas, allowing fuel to be changed to methanol or LNG. During port calls, it can use shore power, which reduces exhaust emissions. A connection to the electric grid will enable future conversion to a battery hybrid system.
The deployment of the two large E-Flexers is the latest investment in the Baltic Sea expansion of Stena Line, which so far includes the modernisation of the fleet on Nynäshamn-Ventspils and Travemünde-Liepaja, and the setup a new route from Nynäshamn to Hanko.
