PROUD TO LEAD STENA LINE INTO THE FUTURE

Our vision “Connecting Europe for a Sustainable Future” defines our overall purpose. It summarises our efforts to connect Europe with a large route network and our customers but also reflects our cognitive journey. Our vision also underlines our responsibility for a sustainable future from an environmental, social and long term financial perspective.

When I became the CEO of Stena Line in 2016 we launched our vision “Connecting Europe for a Sustainable Future” along with a strategy focusing on three core elements; One Company Approach, Operational Excellence and Commercial Positioning. Sustain-ability and Digitalisation were both seen as strategic areas that we needed to develop further in the future to be able to diffentiate ourselves from our competitors. 

Our strategy has delivered. In the last three years our revenue and net margin has increased. Our operation has become more efficient and we have increased the car deck utilization while sailing more trips.

STRATEGY REVIEW 

The world around us is moving fast and to ensure that we continue to evolve, my management team and me have spent the last months updating our existing strategy. We have met and listened to managers as well as several groups of employees with a diverse background in a strategy challenge. We wanted to explore how the existing strategy could evolve, but also to look further in to the future and identify what factors that can and will affect us later, as well as in which areas we need to develop our business.

The result is an update of our existing strategy and our core elements remain valid; as there is big trust in it and true proof that it´s working. We will continue to focus on delivering a seamless transportation with a focus on RoPax ferries carrying passengers, cars and freight. Our five E-Flexer newbuildings is a strong evidence of how we continue to strengthen and standardise our flexible fleet. Already this year the first of the vessels, the Stena Estrid, will be delivered and in the beginning of next year she will start operating on the Dublin-Holyhead route. 

THE WORLD´S FIRST COGNITIVE FERRY COMPANY

Digital Transformation is the core of our updated strategy and we aim to become the world’s first cognitive ferry company, fully assisted by artificial intelligence. This will improve our Efficiency, another focus area in the updated strategy, but also increase our revenue. This will also mean that we need to adapt to new ways of working. Challenging but exiting! Read more about our cognitive journey on the next page.

To ensure a financially sustainable future we need to continue to grow our business. Growth will be enabled partly by the increased capacity of the E-Flexer vessels but also through an increased focus on developing and strengthening our role in the European logistics network.

PEOPLE ON THE AGENDA

We have also put People on the agenda to make sure we will attract and retain the right talent in the future. We have a zero tolerance for harassment and we strive to give all employees equal opportunities to grow and develop, regardless of age, gender, disability, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation or geographical location. We will continue to focus on a strong One Company culture where we all are working for Stena Line, not a specific vessel or region. In line with this focus on our people we will add another UN Sustainable Development Goal, Equality & Inclusion. We will continue on our sustainable journey in all areas and we will continue to claim the position as the leader of sustainable shipping wherever we operate. 

All in all, I feel confident that our updated strategy will continue to deliver results and I am proud to continue to lead Stena Line in to the future. 

Niclas Mårtensson,
Chief Executive Officer, Stena Line