Stena Line

Customer profile

Stena Line, an ABTA member, is an international transport and travel service company and one of the world's leading ferry operators. Stena Line operates in three business areas: Scandinavia, the North Sea and the Irish Sea with a network of 22 strategically located ferry routes in Europe. Stena Line has a modern fleet with a total of 38 vessels including traditional combi-ferries, RoPax ferries for freight and passengers, and pure cargo ships. Stena Line is a stable and profitable group and is committed to providing passengers with the best service and experience possible. In 2018 more than 7 million passengers travelled to their destination with Stena Line. Despite being the largest ferry operator in Europe and one of the largest in the world, Stena Line is still owned by the Swedish Olsson family who founded the company in 1962.

Customer Challenge

The weather decks on RoRo and Ropax ferries are not provided with fire detectors. When a fire breaks out, it can be handled by the ship’s crew, but only when the fire is being detected at an early stage, the crew will be able to prevent the situation from being highly dangerous. Stena Line asked Mr. Peter van de Wardt, Senior Master, to assist with this challenge. For this reason he contacted JRC/Alphatron Marine.

The solution

“JRC/Alphatron Marine did not have a specific product for this matter at that time, but was willing to think with us for a solution. From this point, we started a 1,5 year project and introduced a new product: the Heat Detection System. During this 1,5 year period, many challenges were met. Cable runs (cameras, supplies and internet connections) were done by the crew. For many months we collected data and met our first big challenge: reflection from the sun. It took a long time of engineering, writing new software and collecting data again. In the meantime, we started up another project: heat cameras on closed
decks. In this case, reflection is a necessary part.
Attended by the authorities, a live trial was held on board the Stena Scandinavica, which was very successful”, according to Peter van de Wardt.

Success

“The result is very good with a high potential. It did meet our expectations. Our sister ship is now also equipped with Heat Detection Cameras on the weather deck. It was an innovative project which needed a lot of time and investment from both parties. Miro Zovko, the project leader of Alphatron Marine, kept us informed at all times and paid me many visits. It was a pleasure cooperating with Alphatron Marine and we are now working on the next phase of the Heat Detection Cameras, now for use on the closed decks”, ends Peter van de Wardt.