The large roll-on / roll-off passenger vessel Stena Saga had previously sailed on the Oslo – Fredrikshamn route from Stena Line since 1994 but was idled since the service was permanently suspended in March due to the COVID-19 outbreak and travel restrictions imposed by several countries.

In search of an alternative use for the vessel, Stena Line transferred the Stena Saga to Stena RoRo, a sister company that prepared a design and selected a project manager to transform the 167-meter vessel into a hospital vessel to provide extra healthcare capacity in a coronavirus-affected region such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark or Germany.

“At a shipyard in China, we're currently building the world's largest civilian hospital ship, the Global Mercy, on behalf of the international charity Mercy Ships,” said Per Westling, CEO for Stena RoRo. “Our project manager for the Global Mercy is back in Sweden and will lead any possible conversion of the Stena Saga.”

Stena RoRo, who said the vessel would be able to convert the ferry and have it ready for service in a few weeks, will leverage her experience of converting and adapting ships and constructing hospital ships for the project.

The Stena Saga has more than 590 cabins for passengers.  Design of the vessel would create space for up to 520 patients.

Maritime Business World