During the month of November, customers on all of Stena Line’s 38 vessels were encouraged to round up their onboard purchases and make a donation to Mercy Ships – a charity organisation sailing around the world bringing free, life-saving medical care to where it’s needed the most. There was also an impressive number of employee-initiatives to raise even more money for the charity. Some Stena Line employees rowed and cycling on board crossing the Irish Sea while others arranging quiz walks a shore and cake sales on board. 

“An essential part of our partnership with Mercy Ships is to raise awareness about the organisation and this campaign has not only resulted in a generous monetary contribution from our customers, but also that more people are aware of Mercy Ships and their inspiring work. Many thanks to our employees for their engagement with the charity and their wonderful initiatives all across Europe”, says Niclas Mårtensson, CEO at Stena Line. 

Stena Line’s customers donated 175,324 SEK, beating the result from last year’s donation campaign which ran for twice as long. With the additional contribution from Stena Line, rounding up as well, the total amount of 200 000 SEK will enable Mercy Ships help 133 people to get their sight back on board the hospital ship AFRICA MERCY.

“Because everyone on board Africa Mercy is there on a volunteer basis, we have managed to reduce the cost of an eye surgery to approximately 1,500 SEK. We are grateful so many of Stena Line’s customers chose to support our work and by doing so this has helped to change many lives. It has also been great to see the enthusiasm and engagement among the employees at Stena Line during the campaign,” said Tomas Fransson, National Director for Mercy Ships Sweden.

The Round Up for Charity campaign was launched on all 38 Stena Line ferries on 1 November. It ran for almost four weeks ending on Tuesday 27 November, a date which marked this year’s #GivingTuesday – a charity equivalent to Black Friday and Cyber Monday where instead of shopping people were encouraged to make a charity donation.

The humanitarian non-governmental organisation and Stena Line became partners in February 2017. The aim of the partnership is to raise awareness of Mercy Ships, increase the interest for donations among Stena Line’s customers and partners, as well as promote volunteering with their employees to share their unique technical and naval competence.

“In Mercy Ships, we have found a partner that is committed to helping those who need it the most, and like us see the benefits and the flexibility of having the ocean and ships as your workplace. This partnership is the most important part of our social sustainability initiatives, as it gives us an exciting opportunity to involve our employees, customers and partners in helping to make a difference. It also embodies our core value – care”, says Niclas Mårtensson, CEO at Stena Line.