Stena Line has reached an agreement to acquire the Ro-Ro cargo vessel Somerset from CLdN as part of a wider reorganisation of its European freight network.
Delivery of the vessel to her new owner is expected at the end of October.
After the handover, Somerset will undergo a scheduled dry-docking period, during which the vessel will also be repainted in Stena Line colours.
Once the work is completed, the Ro-Ro vessel will be renamed Stena Freighter.
The vessel is expected to enter service on the Dublin–Liverpool freight route in early December.
Somerset is already familiar to Stena Line, having previously operated within the company’s network under charter.
The acquisition is part of a broader fleet reshuffle across Stena Line’s freight services.
The Rotterdam–Harwich route is currently operated by the chartered vessels Mistral, owned by Godby Shipping, and Thuleland, owned by Wallenius SOL.
The charter agreements for both vessels are due to expire at the end of the year, after which they will be returned to their owners.
Despite the departure of the chartered tonnage, Stena Line plans to continue operating the Rotterdam–Harwich service with two vessels.
To achieve this, the company will transfer its own Ro-Ro vessels Stena Scotia and Stena Hibernia from the Irish Sea to the North Sea route.
This fleet move will become possible once Stena Freighter enters service between Dublin and Liverpool.
As a result, the Dublin–Liverpool freight route will be operated by one vessel instead of two, in line with the operating pattern used during much of 2026.
The changes will allow Stena Line to make greater use of its own tonnage on the Rotterdam–Harwich route while maintaining freight capacity across the wider network.
Somerset was built in 1999 at the German shipyard Flender Werft.
The vessel has an overall length of 183.4 metres and a cargo capacity of 2,504 lane metres.
Following her transfer to Stena Line and renaming as Stena Freighter, the vessel will become part of the company’s revised freight deployment between the Irish Sea and the North Sea.
