Usually i am not monitoring or talking about especially any manager-changes in ferry-business - but in this case here now it COULD be really very interesting - especially for eventually future Stena Line fleet-movements, changes, ferry-new-buildings and also for the balance and priority between freight and passengers:
Stena has changed suddenly the fleet-manager, the COO of fleet !
The former fleet-manager Ian Hampton gets new business ventures inside Stena Group - and now from 1st may is the German Dennis Tetzlaff the new fleet-manager COO - new member in board of directors !
And furthermore very interesting:
Tetzlaff has nearly his complete work-life big experience with the both biggest German cruise-brands AIDA Cruises and TUI Cruises. There he made big career from AIDA sea-kadet up to Captain-Master and later up to TUI vice-president and chief for fleet and new-buildings. Responsible for the evolution and order of the new inTUItion-Class "Mein Schiff Relax" . https://www.seascanner.com/ship-mein-schiff-relax
So he has not really freight-experience - but full knowledge about the fast growing cruise-mass-business of today, newest most comfortable biggest Pax-ships with many 1000 people daily onboard, youngest modern fleets, the "all-inclusive" strategy etc. .
So my opinion and speculation:
Stena has pulled the emergency-brake now after all the massive fleet-problems in the last years (and especially in the last few month with long time deleted route Rosslare-Pembroke, short-term deleted departures, big problems with the ferry Stena Europe etc.) and further and further more downsizing of Pax-capacities, closing of ferry-routes and with even less and less comfort onboard (closing of restaurants, no cook anymore onboard, closing of cinemas etc.) and longer and even more longer use of some much too old ferries (Stena Danica, Nautica, Europe etc.) - in opposite to many other ferry-companies (Viking, Moby, Finnlines, Grimaldi, Balearia, Meridionale, Mols, Bornholm, Gotland, Fred Olsen and other) who are/was ordering bigger and bigger Pax-ferries for this "century of travelling". On ferry-/cruise- conferences, travel-exhibitions, travel-agent-conferences, coach-bus-operators meetings etc. in the last years people was "behind the curtains" wondering more and more and was talking about Stenas fleet-strategy to let over the Pax-travel-market more and more to other companies, other travel-options and other travel-systems.
So MAYBE EVENTUALLY we will get now a big Stena-U-turn in future ?!?
After more than 20 years of downsizing, downgrading back to a leading ferry-company for passengers too - as it was end of the 90ies with the big HSS-ferries ???
Interesting also that Stena has taken a German for this COO job now - who knows (i hope so !) exactly what the most of the 100 Mio. German-speaking people (Germans + Austrians + Swiss) want. F.ex. that to pay anything extra for any kind of club lounge or any upgrade onboard is an absolute no-go - all normal well contemporary comfort MUST be included in the cheapest basic ticket-price always - or that an all-you-can-eat Buffet and Greek restaurant are the most important (look the restaurant-list of his TUI cruise-ship !) restaurants (+ Pizza-Steakhouse) and who knows also other especially German background-points which are very very important for all ferry-companies in the next decades:
1) The 4-days-work-week is coming now in Germany, means in fact that all people has time every week from thursday afternoon up to monday-morning for short-breaks. Mini-cruises on ferries are competing with cheapest flights & hotel/AirBnb combinations and family-visits in leisure-adventure-parks as Europa-Park, Disney World etc. . In a number of companies already today a lot of people can do monday and friday "home-office" and the short work-week starts with a meeting in the company-office on tuesday-morning.
2) The booming motor-home-business - every year much more motor-homes - mostly with pensioner-couples - are travelling on the roads - and also especially in spring and autumn - they do not like the hottest days in july/aug. when everywhere all is full with families also.
3) The biggest masses of pensioners ever - alone in Germany it will go up now in the next few years from 16 Mio. to 22 Mio. old(er) people (that´s 3-times the complete population of the Island of Ireland !) - with 365 days time for traveling the next ca. 25 years of lifetime.
4) Germans has also generally 0 problems with cheapest crews. Asians and/or East-Europeans working on all (cruise-)ships (and in all other transport-systems as driver etc.) is common knowledge for all people in Germany and generally accepted as normal. Main-point for most Germans is "traveling so cheap as possible" - but the nationality of any staff, crew or driver does not matter. So MAYBE with cheapest crews also biggest Pax-ferries (needing a big crew) are thinkable again.
5) He will NOT be responsible for the ticket-prices and onboard-prices - but he will know, that traveling from A to B is now very very cheap in Germany (you can travel with Deutschlandticket for 1,50 per day through the complete country with all slowly trains and for 7,98 with Flixtrain and for 17,90 also longest routes in DB ICE-highspeed-trains). So maybe he can influence other Stena-directors eventually in direction of cheaper prices also... .
Who pays 17,90 from München to Kiel want not to pay then 116,60 for Kiel-Göteborg... .
https://www.bahn.de/buchung/fahrpla...0,01,02,03,04,05,06,07,08,09&fm=false&bp=true
So - let`s all hope now - that MAYBE EVENTUALLY this new Stena fleet-manager will be a sign for an U-turn of the Stena-strategy -
and that we will get in future again
- a younger more modern Stena fleet with max. ca. 25-30 years old ferries
- much bigger Pax-capacities and much more comfort, entertainment and attractions onboard
- much more attractive design of Stena-ferries again, the E-Flexer are looking beside Viking Glory or P&O Pioneer as 10, 15 years older... .
- enough seats and tables onboard for all people also in summer (if you do not know what i mean, then book the afternoon-dep. of Stena Nordica in summer...)
- no (temporary) deleted routes and deleted departures anymore (remember Irish South Channel, was closed this winter ca. 2-3 month because of too less ferries)
- more faster speed and shorter travel-times, sadly many Stena-routes was operated all few years 15 or 30 min more slowly than before... . An example ? Look in AIS f.ex. Stena Spirit max. 12 knots only anymore. Since years more profit with less fuel-costs because of more slowly speed.
- Maybe they will order in future again big (half-)fast Catamarans also ? DFDS has started also now with Catamarans... .
And let`s have a DREAM also that
- instead of so poor simple freighters as f.ex. the planned E-Flexer 300 better a big "Cruise-Flexer" 3000 (Pax) will come. As other ferry-companies (Viking, Tallink, Grimaldi, Minoan, Moby, GNV etc.) are planning too with so biggest Pax-ferries now.
- Stena will open new (with big Pax-capacity) North-Sea-Ferry-routes in future - there are still big ferry-route-gaps actually and this new Stena-manager has studied "random" in the University of Emden (!), a city well-known from Holland-Norway-Line... . So let`s dream about a new route SouthNorway-NorthWestGermany and about the biggest mini-cruise money-maker route London(Tilbury)-Hamburg(City)... . Would be very easy - take this new TUI-Relax-ship with "only" 3000 Pax instead of 4000 and replace the 4, 5, 6 lowest cabin-decks with 2 truck-/car-decks also.
- that Stena will change the poor minimum-cabin-standard on ferries in future new-buildings. 4 x 80cm narrow folding-beds in a 8-9 qm small poor "box" are since long time not anymore contemporary. There is in point of ferry-cabin-standard today nothing better than in the 1970ies - 50 years no progress in this very important point in ferry-business. But this new Stena-manager for new-buildings COULD know this also - and if Stena would start a new better minimum cabin-standard - then other ferry-companies must/will follow too.
Other interesting change has happened at the bottom of all Stena media-infos also:
Now this text who explains what is Stena Line for a kind of company is new expanded/added/changed with these words:
"Stena Line also plays an important role in tourism in Europe with its extensive passenger operations"
So if Stena is serious then they have to buy a lot of big new cruise ferries... .
Because the actually fleet with mostly only freight-orientated Visentinis, E-Flexer, small Stena Vinga, Stena Nordica etc. - and not to forget the big number of 100% Stena-freighters - has not much to do with this text... .
news.cision.com
Stena has changed suddenly the fleet-manager, the COO of fleet !
The former fleet-manager Ian Hampton gets new business ventures inside Stena Group - and now from 1st may is the German Dennis Tetzlaff the new fleet-manager COO - new member in board of directors !
And furthermore very interesting:
Tetzlaff has nearly his complete work-life big experience with the both biggest German cruise-brands AIDA Cruises and TUI Cruises. There he made big career from AIDA sea-kadet up to Captain-Master and later up to TUI vice-president and chief for fleet and new-buildings. Responsible for the evolution and order of the new inTUItion-Class "Mein Schiff Relax" . https://www.seascanner.com/ship-mein-schiff-relax
So he has not really freight-experience - but full knowledge about the fast growing cruise-mass-business of today, newest most comfortable biggest Pax-ships with many 1000 people daily onboard, youngest modern fleets, the "all-inclusive" strategy etc. .
So my opinion and speculation:
Stena has pulled the emergency-brake now after all the massive fleet-problems in the last years (and especially in the last few month with long time deleted route Rosslare-Pembroke, short-term deleted departures, big problems with the ferry Stena Europe etc.) and further and further more downsizing of Pax-capacities, closing of ferry-routes and with even less and less comfort onboard (closing of restaurants, no cook anymore onboard, closing of cinemas etc.) and longer and even more longer use of some much too old ferries (Stena Danica, Nautica, Europe etc.) - in opposite to many other ferry-companies (Viking, Moby, Finnlines, Grimaldi, Balearia, Meridionale, Mols, Bornholm, Gotland, Fred Olsen and other) who are/was ordering bigger and bigger Pax-ferries for this "century of travelling". On ferry-/cruise- conferences, travel-exhibitions, travel-agent-conferences, coach-bus-operators meetings etc. in the last years people was "behind the curtains" wondering more and more and was talking about Stenas fleet-strategy to let over the Pax-travel-market more and more to other companies, other travel-options and other travel-systems.
So MAYBE EVENTUALLY we will get now a big Stena-U-turn in future ?!?
After more than 20 years of downsizing, downgrading back to a leading ferry-company for passengers too - as it was end of the 90ies with the big HSS-ferries ???
Interesting also that Stena has taken a German for this COO job now - who knows (i hope so !) exactly what the most of the 100 Mio. German-speaking people (Germans + Austrians + Swiss) want. F.ex. that to pay anything extra for any kind of club lounge or any upgrade onboard is an absolute no-go - all normal well contemporary comfort MUST be included in the cheapest basic ticket-price always - or that an all-you-can-eat Buffet and Greek restaurant are the most important (look the restaurant-list of his TUI cruise-ship !) restaurants (+ Pizza-Steakhouse) and who knows also other especially German background-points which are very very important for all ferry-companies in the next decades:
1) The 4-days-work-week is coming now in Germany, means in fact that all people has time every week from thursday afternoon up to monday-morning for short-breaks. Mini-cruises on ferries are competing with cheapest flights & hotel/AirBnb combinations and family-visits in leisure-adventure-parks as Europa-Park, Disney World etc. . In a number of companies already today a lot of people can do monday and friday "home-office" and the short work-week starts with a meeting in the company-office on tuesday-morning.
2) The booming motor-home-business - every year much more motor-homes - mostly with pensioner-couples - are travelling on the roads - and also especially in spring and autumn - they do not like the hottest days in july/aug. when everywhere all is full with families also.
3) The biggest masses of pensioners ever - alone in Germany it will go up now in the next few years from 16 Mio. to 22 Mio. old(er) people (that´s 3-times the complete population of the Island of Ireland !) - with 365 days time for traveling the next ca. 25 years of lifetime.
4) Germans has also generally 0 problems with cheapest crews. Asians and/or East-Europeans working on all (cruise-)ships (and in all other transport-systems as driver etc.) is common knowledge for all people in Germany and generally accepted as normal. Main-point for most Germans is "traveling so cheap as possible" - but the nationality of any staff, crew or driver does not matter. So MAYBE with cheapest crews also biggest Pax-ferries (needing a big crew) are thinkable again.
5) He will NOT be responsible for the ticket-prices and onboard-prices - but he will know, that traveling from A to B is now very very cheap in Germany (you can travel with Deutschlandticket for 1,50 per day through the complete country with all slowly trains and for 7,98 with Flixtrain and for 17,90 also longest routes in DB ICE-highspeed-trains). So maybe he can influence other Stena-directors eventually in direction of cheaper prices also... .
Who pays 17,90 from München to Kiel want not to pay then 116,60 for Kiel-Göteborg... .
https://www.bahn.de/buchung/fahrpla...0,01,02,03,04,05,06,07,08,09&fm=false&bp=true
So - let`s all hope now - that MAYBE EVENTUALLY this new Stena fleet-manager will be a sign for an U-turn of the Stena-strategy -
and that we will get in future again
- a younger more modern Stena fleet with max. ca. 25-30 years old ferries
- much bigger Pax-capacities and much more comfort, entertainment and attractions onboard
- much more attractive design of Stena-ferries again, the E-Flexer are looking beside Viking Glory or P&O Pioneer as 10, 15 years older... .
- enough seats and tables onboard for all people also in summer (if you do not know what i mean, then book the afternoon-dep. of Stena Nordica in summer...)
- no (temporary) deleted routes and deleted departures anymore (remember Irish South Channel, was closed this winter ca. 2-3 month because of too less ferries)
- more faster speed and shorter travel-times, sadly many Stena-routes was operated all few years 15 or 30 min more slowly than before... . An example ? Look in AIS f.ex. Stena Spirit max. 12 knots only anymore. Since years more profit with less fuel-costs because of more slowly speed.
- Maybe they will order in future again big (half-)fast Catamarans also ? DFDS has started also now with Catamarans... .
And let`s have a DREAM also that
- instead of so poor simple freighters as f.ex. the planned E-Flexer 300 better a big "Cruise-Flexer" 3000 (Pax) will come. As other ferry-companies (Viking, Tallink, Grimaldi, Minoan, Moby, GNV etc.) are planning too with so biggest Pax-ferries now.
- Stena will open new (with big Pax-capacity) North-Sea-Ferry-routes in future - there are still big ferry-route-gaps actually and this new Stena-manager has studied "random" in the University of Emden (!), a city well-known from Holland-Norway-Line... . So let`s dream about a new route SouthNorway-NorthWestGermany and about the biggest mini-cruise money-maker route London(Tilbury)-Hamburg(City)... . Would be very easy - take this new TUI-Relax-ship with "only" 3000 Pax instead of 4000 and replace the 4, 5, 6 lowest cabin-decks with 2 truck-/car-decks also.
- that Stena will change the poor minimum-cabin-standard on ferries in future new-buildings. 4 x 80cm narrow folding-beds in a 8-9 qm small poor "box" are since long time not anymore contemporary. There is in point of ferry-cabin-standard today nothing better than in the 1970ies - 50 years no progress in this very important point in ferry-business. But this new Stena-manager for new-buildings COULD know this also - and if Stena would start a new better minimum cabin-standard - then other ferry-companies must/will follow too.
Other interesting change has happened at the bottom of all Stena media-infos also:
Now this text who explains what is Stena Line for a kind of company is new expanded/added/changed with these words:
"Stena Line also plays an important role in tourism in Europe with its extensive passenger operations"
So if Stena is serious then they have to buy a lot of big new cruise ferries... .
Because the actually fleet with mostly only freight-orientated Visentinis, E-Flexer, small Stena Vinga, Stena Nordica etc. - and not to forget the big number of 100% Stena-freighters - has not much to do with this text... .
Dennis Tetzlaff appointed Chief Operating Officer Fleet at Stena Line
As of 1 May 2024, Dennis Tetzlaff is Stena Line’s new Chief Operating Officer Fleet and part of the
news.cision.com