A new Stena RoRo E-Flexer series ferry was delivered recently to Marine Atlantic by CMI Jinling, Weihai Shipyard. The 1,000-passenger, 665.8'x91.1' Ala'suinu, will be on a long charter agreement with the Canadian state-owned Marine Atlantic and operate a ferry line in eastern Canada between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.
“We are very excited to welcome the Ala’suinu to our service,” Gary O'Brien, chair, board of directors, Marine Atlantic, said in a statement announcing the new delivery. “With a focus on reducing our environmental impact, the latest accessibility features, state-of-the-art technologies, and enhanced customer amenities, I am confident our customers will be impressed with the newest addition to our fleet. I would like to thank the government of Canada for their investment making it possible to add the Ala'suinu to our fleet.”
The E-Flexer series is based on a concept with larger vessels than today's standard RoPax ferries and is very flexible. Each ship is tailored to the customers' needs, both commercially and technically.
The E-Flexer’s multifuel engines can run on LNG, conventional marine fuel (MGO) or biodiesel. The vessels, which have a 21.3' draft, have been designed in line with future environmental requirements and, through their technical design, can meet both existing and future international requirements by a wide margin. The vessels will be designed with the classification society notation “Battery power” which means that in the future the vessels will also be able to utilize batteries as a means of propulsion. The new vessel will have a running speed of 23 knots
Sweden-based Stena RoRo currently has 13 orders for E-Flexer vessels, as well as two "New Max" RoRo vessels, at CMI Jinling, Weihai shipyard. A total of five vessels will now be under construction at the shipyard at the same time. With the latest delivery 10 ships have now been delivered.
"These vessels are a further development of our previous RoPax concepts, where the focus on sustainability and future-proofing has been a top priority,” said Per Westling, managing director, Stena RoRo. “In this vessel, another dimension of sustainability has been added as the vessel has been designed to make a minimum of noise in the surrounding sea for the benefit of the sensitive underwater fauna of Canada's coasts. Multi-fuel engines and battery hybrid technology further contribute to minimizing Marine Atlantic's environmental impact.”
