Stena Flavia in Travemünde
History
Name	2008: Watling Street 2008–2010: Pilar del Mar 2010–2013: Watling Street 2013–present: Stena Flavia
Owner	2008–2012: Epic Shipping 2012–present: Stena RoRo
Operator	2008–2009: Iscomar (charter) 2010: Trasmediterránea (charter) 2010–2011: T-Link (charter) 2011–2012: Scandlines (charter) 2012–present: Stena Line
Port of registry	2007–2015: London, United Kingdom 2015: Limassol, Cyprus 2015–present: Frederikshavn, Denmark
Route	Travemünde ↔ Liepāja Former: Ventspils ↔ Nynäshamn Former: Rosslare ↔ Cherbourg
Ordered	1 December 2004
Builder	Cantiere Navale Visentini Porto Viro, Italy
Yard number	219
Laid down	28 July 2006
Launched	20 December 2007
Completed	7 April 2008
Acquired	April 2012
Maiden voyage	February 2010
In service	2008
Identification	IMO number: 9417919 Call sign: OWOD2 MMSI number: 219560000
Status	in service
General characteristics
Class & type	NAOS P264 (Visentini Class)
Tonnage	26,904 GT 8,912 NT 5,645 DWT
Length	186.42 m (611 ft 7 in)
Beam	25.6 m (84 ft 0 in)
Height	9.15 m (30 ft 0 in)
Draft	6.2 m (20 ft 4 in)
Ramps	Stern vehicle loading ramp
Installed power	2 × MAN B&W main diesel engines (total 21,600 kW)
Propulsion	2 × controllable pitch propellers
Speed	24.0 knots (44.4 km/h; 27.6 mph)
Capacity	880 passengers 109 passenger cabins (31 crew cabins) 205 cars and 2,290 lane metres for freight

Stena Flavia is a 186.42-metre Ro-Pax ferry built in 2008 by Cantiere Navale Visentini in Porto Viro, Italy. Owned by Stena RoRo and operated by Stena Line, she currently serves the Baltic Sea ferry route connecting Travemünde and Liepāja.

Service

The ferry was launched on 20 December 2007 at the Visentini shipyards in Porto Viro with the name Watling Street and delivered on 7 April 2008 to the Singaporean company Epic Shipping, from which it was immediately chartered in June to the Spanish company Iscomar, from which it was introduced on the connections between Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca as a replacement for the Blanca del Mar with the name Pilar del Mar.^[1]

On 19 September 2009, at the end of her charter, the ferry was laid up in Palma de Mallorca to await further deployment. On 15 February, after several months of lay-up on the Spanish island, Pilar del Mar, chartered to Trasmediterránea, then sailed to Barcelona, ​​where she took up service on the routes between the Catalan port and Tangier, after being renamed Watling Street again. However, on 20 February, the ferry ended her charter after just a couple of days and sailed to Italy, where two days later she took up service on the routes between Volti and Termini Imerese, chartered to T-Link, where she was joined by her near-twin sister Akeman Street four days later.^[2]

On 26 April 2011, with the closure of T-Link's activities, the ferry returned to the ownership of the company and, after a short technical stop in Fos-sur-Mer, was immediately chartered to the German Scandlines, for which it began service on 25 May on the routes between Travemünde and Ventspils, alongside the Urd. However, on 29 April 2012, with the acquisition by Stena Line of a package of five routes of the German company, the Watling Street was purchased by the latter, by which it was renamed Stena Flavia in April 2013. Following the renaming, from 13 to 14 April the ferry operated on the routes between Ventspils and Nynäshamn, where it then returned to operate in April 2015, this time on a permanent basis.^[3]

On 11 November 2014, while on a stopover in Travemünde, the ferry was rammed by the Pulpca, causing minor damage to the lifeboats.^[4] On 14 April 2016, after five years of service in the Baltic Sea, the ferry began service between Rosslare and Cherbourg as a replacement for the Stena Horizon. However, just one month later, on 8 March, with the return of the Stena Horizon to the line, the Stena Flavia ended her service between Ireland and France, returning a few days later to operate between Travemünde, Ventspils, Liepāja and Nynäshamn, where she still operates today, alternating periods of service on the routes.^[5]

Accidents and Incidents

On November 11, 2014, at 10:47 a.m., the Pulpca, entering the port of Travemünde, collided with the Stena Flavia, which was docked at the Scandinavia Quay, in foggy conditions.^[6] The pontoon of berth 4 was damaged. No one was injured.^[7] A bulwark and a lifeboat on the Stena Flavia were damaged. Both ships were prohibited from leaving port.^[8][9] From January to March 2016, the Stena Flavia was used on the Cherbourg – Rosslare route while the Stena Horizon was undergoing maintenance in the shipyard.^[10]

Sister ships

The Stena Flavia has no direct sister ships. However, it shares a large similarity with the three later-built ships of the NAOS P270 class.^[11]

References