5 travel trends for 2018 we see in our crystal ball
Winter is the new summer! Also, we want to travel slow, short distances and off the beaten track. Forget Paris and New York – we want to explore the smaller cities where no tourists go, in search of those genuine, down-to-earth experiences. Here are the top 5 travel trends we see for 2018...
Balancing with ballast!
Ever heard the word ballast? It comes from the old Nordic word “barlast” which means without (“bar”) cargo (“last”). And there’s a reason for that… When a ship is fully loaded (say, a ferry carrying hundreds of cars and trucks), the weight of the load submerges the hull in the water. This is good because,…
Stena Gothica – A Stena Line veteran
During the winter months, several of our ships enter the dry dock for their annual inspection and refurbishing. One of these is Stena Danica. While she’s being pampered at the shipyard, Stena Gothica, along with Stena Jutlandica and M/V Gute, are keeping up her route, Frederikshavn-Gothenburg. Who is this trusty ole dame? Ou...
From cheeky challenger to established shipping company
1972 is the eventful year that Stena goes from being an upstart challenger to one of Gothenburg’s established shipping companies. The new, elegant terminal building on the southern shores of the river Göta marks the start of a new era in Gothenburg. Long before, the traditional harbor business left the southern r...
How the heck do you weigh a ship?
If you caught the first episode of our series, where we talked about buoyancy, you may remember that the weight of the water that a ship displaces is equal to the weight of the ship itself. This is known as the Archimedes principle. But how do you establish the weight of that water? Ship builders…
What the king didn’t know …
When Swedish king, Gustav II Adolf ordered the royal warship Wasa, he clearly knew nothing about the importance of center of gravity. He ordered an extra cannon deck built – and the Wasa capsized instantly on her maiden voyage in 1628. Not exactly a proud moment in history of Swedish shipbuilding … The center of…
A Yugoslavian-built ferry with an Olympic aura and Scandinavian design
Stena Olympica was built in Yugoslavia and delivered in the same year as the summer Olympics in Munich in 1972. The interior design was clearly influenced by the decade she was delivered in, as well as by her Scandinavian heritage. Read about her 40 year long history below. Ship Facts Delivered ...
The strange case of the vanishing water …
No crane in the world is strong enough to lift a 20,000-tonne vessel up in the air. Nevertheless, every once in a while, a ship does need to have its underwater hull painted, maintained and repaired. And you can’t really do that while the ship is in the water. The solution? ...
Making a fellow traveller happy is my best travel memory!
Traveling doesn’t have to stop just because you’re back home again. Remembering and talking about trips is also a way of traveling. In your mind and in time. That’s something Arne and his friends do. Below is his story from a trip from Gothenburg to Kiel. – We love to reminisce a...
It’s not just a fancy nose job: we’re saving the planet!
You’ve probably seen a bulb-like shape protruding from the bow of a ship. Our ferries all have one. But what is it and what’s it doing there? Well, the bulb is a clever invention that helps to decrease a ships resistance as it travels through the water. The result: more speed, less fue...