RoRo & RoPax ship owner Stena RoRo has contacted authorities in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany offering their Stena Saga ship to be used as a hospital ship to deal with the coronavirus.
Stena Line transferred the large vehicle and passenger craft to its sister company Stena RoRO following the closure of the Oslo-Frefrikshamn route due to the coronavirus and travel restrictions.
“The Saga Stena ship is now in the port of Uddevalla and Stena RoRo is investigating the interest in the attention span that the ferry could provide,” said Stena Line.
The company estimates that it can convert the ferry in just a few weeks and get it ready to provide additional health care capacity in a crown-affected region that accommodates 520 patients.
The ship would be intended for crown patients who do not need intensive care or who abandoned intensive care but still require medical assistance for a longer time.
The company has considerable experience in converting ships to hospital ships and has already prepared the design and appointed a project manager for the conversion project.
“To meet health care requirements, we need to rebuild the ventilation system, install alarms and communications systems, and also change interior furnishings,” said Stena RoRo project manager Rikard Olsson.
“In addition, patients and crew must be able to keep separate. We can do what needs to be done in two to three weeks. ” said Stena RoRo project manager, Rikard Olsson.
Olsson is also participating in the company’s Global Mercy project in China, which will see the construction of the world’s largest civilian hospital ship, Stena Line said.
The flexibility of ships allows health services to be provided in places where having shore facilities is very expensive or impossible. However, currently, stranded cruises could serve as hospital capacity in coastal cities of developing countries.
