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After the acquisition
by AVIC, Deltamarin
“twiddled its thumbs
for a year or so” as
Uotila puts it, while the
people from the two
companies became acquainted. Deltamarin
and AVIC did not have joint projects until
2016, when they signed a contract with Stena
RoRo, a subsidiary of the Swedish shipowner
Stena AB, for ro-pax ferry newbuildings.
The contract was for four vessels including
an option for another four. These would be
among the first ro-pax ferries to be built in
China for a western owner.
Janne Uotila recalls this project: “It started
in the way that Deltamarin always strives for,
which is to be there throughout the entire
production chain. In the initial stage we do
concept design for the customer, who in our
case is often a western shipowner. In this case,
it was Stena RoRo. Stena has been collaborating
with Deltamarin for over 20 years. We did the
ship concept for them first, and then we went
together with Stena to look for a place to build
the vessel. We ended up with the ‘holy trinity’ of
Stena, Deltamarin and AVIC’s Weihai shipyard.
Having a concrete project took our cooperation
with our new owner to a whole new level. The
first ships were delivered at the end of 2019
and the remaining vessels will be delivered up
till 2023. The customer has been very satisfied
with the ship and the cooperation they have
had with us.”
Per Westling, Managing Director of
Stena RoRo, recounts his history with
Deltamarin: “I started working at Stena in
1985. Almost immediately I came into a
project with Deltamarin. At that time, I was
working in our technical division as a naval
architect. I have also worked in Stena RoRo as
a conversion and newbuilding manager. Then
I continued to work with Deltamarin in bigger
conversation work such as lengthenings
and more complex projects. Many different
projects really. That has been my personal
experience with Deltamarin – I have worked
in a technical function. I have also been
involved with them as a newbuilding manager
in Spain.”
“Later on, when I got a more commercial
role in Stena RoRo, I continued to work with
Deltamarin, but more in coordination and
creating new business together with them.
We modified ships for the needs of different
clients. So, I have worked with the company in
a number of different roles,” Westling says.
“Stena Estrid is a part of a series of ropax
ferries we are building in China. It was
a project we started about five years ago
now. We came into contact with the Chinese
shipyard AVIC. They didn’t have much
experience in building passenger ships or
ro-pax vessels, but they had a very good
culture in the company as far as international
business went. On top of that, they were
also the owner of Deltamarin. For us, this
combination was quite interesting: highquality,
international business partnership,
Per Westling, Managing
Director of Stena RoRo