Displaying items by tag: New Giant ferry

9th June 2018

Stena Line Will Bring New Giant Ferry onto Holyhead-Dublin Route

Ferry operator Stena has revealed the Irish Sea route, Holyhead-Dublin will be the first to get new type of vessel, the E-Flexer class in early 2020. A further pair of the new series as previously reported on Afloat are planned to be introduced on the Liverpool-Belfast route also in 2020 and 2021.

#FerryNews - Ferry operator, Stena Line is set to bring a new giant vessel on the Holyhead-Dublin route reports Daily Post Wales.

Stena Line has confirmed that the first of its new RoPax ferries currently under construction in China is planned to enter service on the Irish Sea route early 2020.

The Stena E-Flexer vessel - which will be among the most energy efficient in the world - will replace the Superfast X on the route.

The new ship will have capacity for 1,000 passengers, 120 cars as well as 3 100 freight lane meters delivering 4 daily sailings with an estimated crossing time of approximately 3.5 hrs.

It is a major vote of confidence in Holyhead at a time where there are concerns about the potential impact of Brexit on the port.

Ian Davies, Stena Line Trade Director Irish Sea South, said: “Freight volumes have surpassed the Celtic Tiger peaks of 2007 and we are confident that this upward trend will continue.

For more on this development including ship stats details, click here.

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Esailing & Virtual Sailing information

The concept of e-sailing, or virtual sailing, is based on a computer game sailing challenge that has been around for more than a decade.

The research and development of software over this time means its popularity has taken off to the extent that it has now become a part of the sailing seascape and now allows people to take an 'active part' in some of the most famous regattas across the world such as the Vendée Globe, Route du Rhum, Sydney Hobart, Volvo Ocean Race, America’s Cup and some Olympic venues too, all from the comfort of their armchair.

The most popular model is the 'eSailing World Championship'. It is an annual esports competition, first held in 2018 and officially recognised by World Sailing, the sports governing body.

The eSailing World Championship is a yearly competition for virtual sailors competing on the Virtual Regatta Inshore game.

The contract to run the event was given to a private company, Virtual Regatta that had amassed tens of thousands of sailors playing offshore sailing routing game following major offshore races in real-time.

In April 2020, the company says on its website that it has 35,000 active players and 500,000 regattas sailed.

Virtual Regatta started in 2010 as a small team of passionate designers, engineers, and entrepreneurs gathered around the idea that virtual sailing sports games can mix with real races and real skippers.