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Big is beautiful

In recent years we have seen more and more deliveries of passenger/ cargo ferries in the XXXL-size. Not too long ago a cargo capacity of some 2,000 lane metres was regarded as quite large in a ro-pax vessel. Last summer Finnlines took delivery of ro-pax vessels with capacity for 4,200 lane metres of ro-ro cargo. Now Stena has ordered a couple of real giants with an overall length of 240 metres and a cargo capacity of incredible 5,500 lane metres. Finnlines, having decades of accumulated in-house experience of year-round liner traffic on the Baltic Sea, has initiated the development of some interesting ro-pax designs for the special conditions in the Baltic Sea, of which the Finnstar class is the latest. Navigation in ice is inevitable in the Baltic Sea for several months of the year and the vessels must be designed to cope with this.

Above all Stena RoRo is a forerunner in the development of interesting ro-pax tonnage. Many of the innovations and trends within the ro-pax business originate from Stena RoRo’s ideas. As a matter of fact, one of the very first purpose-designed and built ferries of the category called ro-pax was of Stena RoRo’s origin. When delivered in 1991 and 1992, the cargo capacity of the near twins, the Stena Challenger and the Stena Traveller was 1,560 and 1,800 lane metres respectively. This was combined with a passenger capacity of 500. Since then, Stena RoRo has been a trendsetter in the development of ferries combining passenger facilities with a large cargo capacity. Another interesting milestone is the 2,200 lane metres Stena Seapacer class, which included an amazing amount of built-in flexibility. The lead vessels in the class were purchased on stocks by Finnlines and delivered as the Finnclipper and the Finneagle. In the original design many features were prepared with a future conversion in mind, such as drive-through possibility on two decks and adding a fourth cargo deck. Followed by the 3,500 lane metres Stena Seamaster class (the Stena Britannica & the Stena Adventurer) and the latest 5,500 lane metres vessel design, the direction of the development is clearly indicated: for routes where there are continuous, massive cargo flows, very large vessels are needed and also put into service.

Everyone is of course looking for economy of scale – the magic words in virtually all business activities of today. It is quite obvious that the major players on the cargo ferry routes like to think big. Ultra-large vessels also put the infrastructure in the ports to a test. All types of non-standard ro-ro vessels, i.e. vessels with another cargo handling arrangement than the usual stern ramp, need special arrangements in the port. For example, drive-through possibility on two deck levels on the ship demands a purpose-built ramp in the port. In addition to sufficient capacity on access roads from the port area to the main roads, large storage areas and internal traffic arrangements are needed in the port, especially if a considerable part of the cargo consists of trailers.

Big is beautiful, but it demands big investments throughout the logistic chain. This is the other side of the picture. When they get really large, the vessels are no longer suitable on any route – either commercially or technically – thus losing some of the flexibility which has been characteristic for ro-ro vessels. However, it seems that these potential disadvantages are widely compensated by the advantages of thinking big.

//Pär-Henrik Sjöström