Stena line sails away with top ferry accolade for 19th year

Stena Line has been voted the top ferry company for a record 19th time at the annual Northern Ireland Travel and Tourism Awards. The 'Best Ferry Company' award was presented to the ferry company at a glittering awards ceremony at the Slieve Donard Resort in Newcastle in October.

Northern Ireland Travel News has been organising the awards for the past 20 years. This year's ceremony was hosted by TV personality Eamonn Holmes and was attended by over 450 VIPs from the local travel and tourism industry. 

Paul Grant, Stena Line Route Director collected the award on behalf of the company. He said: "I am delighted Stena Line has won the Best Ferry Company title for the 19th time and all of us are very proud that our commitment to improving our services has been recognised once again."

"Although this is our 19th win, it’s every bit as important as our first success in this prestigious ceremony. The travel industry is used to seeing innovation and high levels of customer service so when they say once again that we are the Best Ferry Company it underscores that the high standards we set ourselves lead the industry," said Paul.

"We are moving into a very important time for Stena Line's operation between Northern Ireland and Scotland. On November 21 we are scheduled to start our new Belfast to Cairnryan service which will also see the introduction of two new vessels, Stena Superfast VII and Superfast VIII, the largest ships every to have sailed between Northern Ireland and Scotland," he continued.

"In the summer we also added the Belfast to Liverpool and Heysham services to our route network. Along with our purpose built Belfast Port in VT4 which was completed in 2008, the overall investment is in the region of £250M, a resounding endorsement of our confidence in the future of Belfast as the regional hub for both freight and passenger traffic," he added.

Stena Line is the market leader on the Irish Sea, offering the biggest fleet and the widest choice of routes from Ireland to Britain, including Belfast to Cairnryan (launching 21 November), Belfast to Liverpool, Dublin Port to Holyhead, Dun Laoghaire to Holyhead and Rosslare to Fishguard. The company carries approximately two million passengers on its Irish Sea routes each year, more than its rival ferry operators combined.