How green is the Holyhead to Dublin ferry? What Stena Line and Irish Ferries are doing to cut emissions, the green corridor plan, and practical ways to travel lighter.
Honest answer: a big diesel ferry is not a low-carbon machine, but it’s not the villain it’s sometimes made out to be either. It carries hundreds of cars, lorries and passengers at once, and the newest ships on this route burn a lot less fuel than the ones they replaced. How green your own trip is depends far more on how full your car is than on which operator you pick.
The ships
Stena Estrid, which joined the route in January 2020, was the first of Stena’s E-Flexer class. It runs on two main engines instead of the four used on older ferries and can feather one propeller to save fuel. Stena says the E-Flexer design cuts CO2 emissions by about 25% compared with the previous generation of ships, and the trade press called Estrid the most efficient ship in Stena’s history when she arrived. She is also built to switch to LNG in future.
The older ships on the route, Stena Adventurer (2003) and Ulysses (2001), are conventional diesel ferries. James Joyce dates from 2007. None of them is electric or hybrid, and no operator has announced a zero-emission ship for this crossing yet.
The Holyhead to Dublin green corridor
Holyhead to Dublin is the busiest roll-on roll-off route between Britain and Ireland, which makes it a natural test bed. A study led by the consultancy Ricardo, with Stena Line, Irish Ferries, Dublin Port and the Port of Holyhead all taking part, concluded the route could become one of Europe’s first green shipping corridors. It also found that battery-electric ferries aren’t practical here, because of the energy demand and the size of ship needed. Alternative fuels, not batteries, are the likely path.
Stena Line has set itself a target of cutting CO2 by 30% by 2030. It’s a target, not a result, so treat it as a direction of travel.
What you can actually do
- Fill the car. A ferry’s emissions are shared across everything it carries. Four people in one car is a much smaller share each than one person driving alone.
- Go on foot and take the train. Holyhead’s terminal is next to the station, and a SailRail ticket covers train and ferry from anywhere in Britain to Dublin. See foot passenger or car.
- Pick a Stena Estrid sailing if you have a choice of times. Our timetable shows which ship usually runs each departure.
- Pack light. Roof boxes and heavy loads raise your car’s fuel use on the drive to and from the ports, which for many people is a bigger part of the trip than the crossing.
Ferry or flight?
Comparisons depend heavily on assumptions, such as how full the ship is, whether you bring a car, and where your journey starts. If you’re going without a car anyway, rail and sail avoids the drive to an airport and the short-haul flight. If you need a car in Ireland, bringing your own on the ferry avoids a flight plus a hire car. We’d rather give you that honest framing than a precise-looking number we can’t stand behind.