MS Stena Nordica (2000)

«MS Stena Nordica (2000)»
History
Name	2000-2004: European Ambassador 2004-2015: Stena Nordica 2015-2016: Malo Seaways 2016 - onwards: Stena Nordica
Owner	2000-2004: P&O Irish Sea 2004 onwards: Stena Line
Operator	2000-2004: P&O Irish Sea 2004-2015: Stena Line 2015-2016: DFDS Seaways/DFDS Seaways France 2016 - Onwards: GNV
Port of registry	Dover,UK
Route	Unfamilair
Builder	Mitsubishi Heavy Industry, Japan
Yard number	1068
In service	2000
Identification	IMO number: 9215505 Call sign SCBK
Status	In service
General characteristics
Tonnage	24,206 GT 4,768 t DWT
Length	169.8 m (557 ft 1 in)
Beam	24.0 m (78 ft 9 in)
Draught	6.0 m (19 ft 8 in)
Installed power	2 × Wärtsilä 18V38 2 × Wärtsilä 12V38
Capacity	405 passengers 222 berths 375 cars 1,949 lane metres

MS Stena Nordica is a ro-pax ferry operated by GNV.

Early career

Malo Seaways was originally built European Ambassador for P&O Irish Sea. She initially entered service between Liverpool and Dublin. Soon after she was used on the new Mostyn - Dublin service. She opened a direct Dublin – Cherbourg route making one round trip at the weekend, with a call to Rosslare outbound in the winter. In 2004, she transferred to Stena Line with P&O's Fleetwood – Larne and Dublin – Mostyn vessels. The Dublin - Mostyn and Dublin - Cherbourg routes were closed following the Stena Line takeover.

Sale to Stena Line

Following the closure of the Mostyn service, she was sold to Stena Line in 2004. The European Ambassador sailed for Scandinavia and was renamed the Stena Nordica. She entered service between Karlskrona - Gdynia where she increased capacity significantly. After a major refit including the fitting of new ramps to speed up loading and unloading, the ship entered service under the Swedish flag in May 2004. She returned to Dublin as a relief ship in January 2008, when she arrived from Fishguard and Rosslare, where she had conducted berthing trials. After trials in Dublin she then sailed to Holyhead to take up the roster covering the Stena Seatrader's refit. She then covered the MS Stena Europe's refit and returned to the Baltic in February.

In October 2008 it was announced that the Stena Nordica would be returning to the Irish Sea replacing the Stena Seatrader and to increase capacity between Dublin and Holyhead. In March 2009 the Stena Nordica received a £2 Million refit which improved passenger areas and brought the vessel into line with the rest of the Irish sea fleet.

In 2014 Stena Line took possession of Dieppe Seaways, at the end of its charter to DFDS Seaways, who used the ship on the Dover - Calais route. After refit and they intend to introduce the ship as MS Stena Superfast X in 2015 on their Holyhead - Dublin service. In January 2015, it was announced that DFDS Seaways had chartered Stena Nordica to be the replacement running mate on their Calais route, effectly performing a ship swap.

In March 2015, Stena Nordica was working the Belfast - Cairnryan route. She departed Belfast on 28 March 2015 bound for Dunkerque Ouest due to arrive on 30 March.

The Stena Nordica is a close relative to the P&O Irish Sea twins European Causeway and European Highlander, which operate between Cairnryan and Larne.