In July Stena Line purchased the 25-year-old car ferry SeaFrance Manet for deployment between Stranraer and Belfast from the coming autumn.

Built by Chantiers Dubigeon at Nantes as Champs Elysees for SNCF services from Calais and Boulogne to Dover, the 1,650-passengers/280-car vessel was part owned by Stena in the mid-1990s as Stena Parisien running from Dieppe to Newhaven for Stena Sealink.

SeaFrance Manet adopted her present name when joining SeaFrance in 1997, but has been laid up in Dunkirk since April 2008 after latterly being used in mainly a freight role.

Stena plan what is described as a comprehensive interior upgrade, similar to that applied to the 1981-built Stranraer-Belfast vessel Stena Caledonia earlier this year, and there is already pressure for former route name Stena Antrim to be revived.