Swedish shipping company Stena RoRo has placed an order with China Merchants Industry (CMI) for a new generation of RoRo vessels, comprising two firm C-Flexer-type vessels with options for an additional four.
The new C-Flexer design features a highly developed hullform, multi-fuel engines, and a scalable battery-hybrid system, ensuring that the vessels are future-proofed and can be progressively “greened”, the Swedish firm said.
The vessels have been developed in close cooperation with the Italian design company NAOS Ship and Boat Design and will be built at CMI’s Weihai Shipyard.
The first two are scheduled for delivery in March and June 2029, respectively, with the optional vessels to be delivered at three-month intervals thereafter.
“With Stena RoRo’s extensive experience and market knowledge, combined with NAOS’ outstanding expertise in designing fuel-efficient RoRo and RoPax vessels, we have developed ships that are built for today and designed for tomorrow,” said Per Westling, CEO of Stena RoRo.
“In the future the C-Flexer will be able to operate entirely on batteries. Until then, the installed diesel-battery hybrid system will provide the necessary flexibility and redundancy for many years to come.”
Stena RoRo and CMI’s collaboration has so far resulted in 17 vessels ordered at the shipyard. The cooperation began in 2016 with an order for four E-Flexer RoPax vessels and has since grown to a total of 15 vessels, 12 of which have already been delivered. In addition, two RoRo vessels of the Stena NewMax concept have been delivered.
