STENA Line has been voted the top ferry company for a record 20th time at the annual Northern Ireland Travel and Tourism Awards. The ‘Best Ferry Company’ award was presented at a glittering awards ceremony at the Slieve Donard Resort in Newcastle.
Northern Ireland Travel News has been organising the awards for the past 21 years and this year’s ceremony was hosted by TV personality Roy Walker with more than 400 VIPs from the local travel and tourism industry attending.
Paul Grant, Route Director for the Belfast – Cairnryan route collected the award on behalf of the company.
“It’s been a busy year for Stena Line as we celebrate 50 years in business, so it is a real honour to pick up this prestigious award as we mark such a memorable milestone,” said Paul. “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.”
“Next month also marks the first anniversary of our Belfast to Cairnryan route which introduced two new vessels, Stena Superfast VII and Superfast VIII, the largest ships to sail between Northern Ireland and Scotland,” he continued.
“Following a £40M acquisition of the Belfast to Liverpool ferry route from DFDS last year, we have now completed a major ship upgrade programme with a £4M refit investment in sister ships Stena Mersey and Stena Lagan. ”
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, Belfast to Liverpool, Belfast to Heysham, Dun Laoghaire to Holyhead, Dublin Port to Holyhead and Rosslare to Fishguard. The company carries approximately three million passengers on its Irish Sea routes each year, more than its rival ferry operators combined.