Survitec’s Marin Ark 2 MES onboard Stena Line

After more than six years in development, Stena Line’s newest E-Flexer ferries are cited as the most modern ferries in the world fleet.

At 215m in length, Stena Estrid and her sister Stena Edda are larger than the current standard ro-pax vessels, with capacity for 120 cars, 1,000 passengers, and 3,100 lane metres for cars and trucks.

The delivery of Stena Line’s latest ferries marks the 100th reference for Survitec’s Marin Ark 2 Marine Evacuation System.

Stena Estrid, delivered in January, is currently serving the Holyhead-Dublin, route while newly delivered Stena Edda is operating Stena Line’s Belfast-Birkenhead service.

Each vessel is equipped with a pair of high-capacity Survitec MES (marine evacuation systems), over-capacity liferafts and Crewsaver Premier Compact lifejackets, of which the latter provides a minimum of 150 Newtons to meet market demand for increased buoyancy and performance.

Similar equipment has been specified for the final vessel in the series, Stena Embla, scheduled for delivery from China’s AVIC Weihai Shipyard at the end of this year.

“The E-Flexer design is acknowledged as setting a standard in environmentally sustainable ferry operations,” says Paul Clarke, Operation Director MES, Survitec. “It now sets the benchmark for passenger and crew safety and comfort.

“With the safety of its passengers and crew being the foremost priority, Stena Line places great emphasis on the quality and reliability of those manufacturers selected to supply equipment, and its ability to meet the operational needs of the vessel.

“Stena Line’s commitment to safety is indicative in the company’s focus on crew training, the critical safety equipment they source for their vessels, and the stringent tests it carries out on all equipment onboard.”

He says that with a wide variety of lifejacket designs on the market, ship operators do have to ensure that their passengers and crews are supplied with lifejackets that are compatible with the MES.

“There have been compatibility issues where the size and type of some lifejackets are unsuitable for use with chute-based MES. If a lifejacket is incompatible, it can actually hamper safe descent, resulting, at the very least, in increased stress and panic for passengers,” says Clarke.