STENA ESTRID was pulled ouf the building dock on 20 February © AVIC Ship

STENA ESTRID floated out of building dock

FerryAVIC Weihai Shipyard in China, the builders of Stena’s eight E-Flexer (Mk I and II) Class ro-paxes (and because of that currently the world’s leading ro-pax shipbuilder), were so kind to send Shippax some photos of STENA ESTRID which was floated out of the building dock today, 20 February.

STENA ESTRID – the lead ship in the series – was floated on 16 January but remained in the building dock during the Chinese New Year. Now the 42,000gt, 3,100-lanemetre, 120-car and 1,000-people capacity ro-pax has moved to the outfitting quay. Delivery is expected towards the end of this year.

Seven more ships will follow, four for Stena Line (including two lengthened versions), two for Brittany Ferries (long-term BB charter) and one for DFDS (another long-term BB charter). Stena RoRo holds an option for three more ships of the same class. Essentially, these eight ships represent six different designs, which makes the project truly unique and interesting indeed.

A rather exclusive, nine-page in-depth story about the ins and outs of the E-Flexer Class will be published in the March edition of ShippaxInfo. A copy of the magazine will also be distributed during the Shippax Ferry Conference, to be held on board SILJA SERENADE 12-14 March.