Stena-Explorer

The "Stena Explorer" is up for sale again for around £4.5m - just months after it was sold. She was sold in October 2015 to Turkish firm Karadeniz Holding who were planning to convert it into a high-tech floating office and was taken from Holyhead to Turkey in November. The ferry is now available for $6.5m, around £4.5m. The sale was being organised by their broker Taskin Torlak at Ocean Ship Brokers. It is listed on the Offshore Solutions Unlimited website which did not expect major interest in the vessel but hoped to help secure a sale. The other two HSS vessels have now been scrapped over the last three years.

The "Stena Explorer" will be converted into a giant floating office. The ferry was sold to the Turkish Karadeniz Holding in October 2015. Karadeniz Holding’s subsidiary Karmarine Yalova shipyard will carry out the renovation with the ship to be re-named "One World Karadeniz". It will serve as the headquarters of Karmarine shipyard, where Powerships are manufactured and include conference rooms accommodating more than 200 people, a helipad, and a new wing for healthcare facilities. It will be used as a Research and Development project that can generate its own power with its Vertical Axis wind turbine and high-tech solar panelsand will provide better security in case of an earthquake and high living standards in our shipyard in Turkey. As a first step, there will be minor revisions and only some areas in certain sections will be furnished as office space. Full revision will take time as the extensive design and R&D processes were still in progress.

The "Stena Explorer" which has been laid up at Holyhead for months she has now been renamed "One World Karadeniz" left Holydhead in the afternoon of Nov 1, 2015, being towed by the tug "Bluster" bound for Yalova, Turkey. Report with photos: http://www.itv.com/news/wales/update/2015-11-01/ferry-bids-a-fond-farewell-to-holyhead/