On 14/11/1994, a little over 15 years ago the I.F.W. announced, “Stena to Launch HSS Sea Monster.” Stena Line freight sales manager at that time was quoted as stating “The HSS will revolutionise ferry travel.” The question is……..Did It ?
Stena HSS - revolutionary engineering
Amid a wave of publicity and on the back of a multi million pound investment program Stena launched its purpose built High Speed Service (HSS) super crafts. Each HSS1500 was powered by four water jets. With a service speed of 40 knots (a record of 51 knots unladen) and deck space equivalent to a full size football pitch they aimed to attract both tourist and freight carryings. The HSS 1500 have a capacity to carry 1520 passengers and 375 cars or 120 cars and 50 freight units. The Stena Explorer, Stena Voyager and Stena Discovery not only looked like a ferry from the future but they were designed to be the future of the ferry industry. At a cost of £65m each and the requirement of significant infrastructure development at all the port locations serving the roués of Holyhead – Dun Laoghaire, Stranraer – Belfast and Harwich – Hoek van Holland the of HSS entered service in 1996.
After 15 years what impact has the HSS had ?
In terms of passenger travel and in the eyes of the tourist the HSS provides a service and experience that is un-rivalled. Crossing times, that are comparable to airlines when you take into account the ever lengthening requirement for earlier check in times. On board facilities that range from first class lounges to fast food outlets. All in all an airline experience with the added benefit of having your car with you. From a passenger paying perspective competition from low cost airlines ensured that the HSS remained price competitive. As we all know however tourism is seasonal and as a result Ro-Pax operators must have a freight offering to. So how did freight and the HSS get on ?
With the faster crossing times and quicker loading and discharge Stena perceived the HSS to be a premium freight service and therefore applied a premium rate policy. This premium pricing model was sustained on the Holyhead – DunLaoghaire route but a mixture of competition and wave height restrictions eroded the ability to charge a premium on the Stranraer – Belfast and Harwich – Hoek van Holland routes.
The above is history as they say. The HSS were operating in the water that surround the UK but how successful are they? Lets fast forward from their inception in 1996 to 2007.
On January 8th 2007 the Stena Discovery left Harwich at 1040 hours to return to its home port Hoek van Holland. This was its final in service trip in European waters. The newly named HSS Discovery now plies her trade in the waters off the coast of Venezuela.
Over the last 10 years the HSS schedules were over time reduced in terms of crossing time and frequency of sailing. Most significantly over the last 12 months Stena have increased their conventional ferry capacity on the Irish Sea in line with the reduction in HSS sailings. On January 7th 2010 Stean Line announced that the Stena Explorer service on the Holyhead – Dun Laoghaire route would operate during the peak tourist season only (June 28th to September 5th) and a smaller 600 passenger, no freight, Stena Express, would operate out of season.
It would appear therefore that the days of the HSS are numbered. It could be argued that in terms of a freight carrying service Stena passed up the market in favour of their conventional ferry offerings. So what has gone wrong ?
The biggest factor of what is no doubt a more complex reason comes down to the HSS operating costs and the most significant of those costs being the cost of a barrel of oil. It is understood that the breakeven price for operating an HSS is around $45 per barrel. When HSS services were launched the cost of a barrel was $25 and continued to trade under the perceived $45 benchmark until mid 2004. Oil prices may well have settled back at $75 a barrel but the spiral of 2008 when they hit $147 certainly began to prepare the nails for the HSS coffin.!!!!!!! Just a thought. Where does the HSS Discovery sail now? Off the coast of Venezuela…… an oil producing country.
Has the HSS therefore become Stena Lines white elephant or has it become another victim of the rise in oil prices and general world economic decline. It would suggest that anything over $45 a barrel meant that the HSS continuation on its original conception was always going to be a problem. As a concept the HSS was revolutionary, as a service it is excellent but as a viable business proposition in today’s economic climate it’s nothing more than inefficient and uneconomical. When they arrived on the scene the HSS looked like something from the future and who knows in the future their concept may be the way forward but unfortunately for now it would appear that the HSS is looking like being consigned to the history books of European ferries.