Stena Freighter was built by Societa Esercizio Cantieri of Viareggio, Italy, and completed in 2004 by Elektromehanika d.o.o. at Kraljevica Shipyard, Croatia, for Swedish operator Stena Line. The ship was initially laid down in February 1997 as the Stena Hispanica for the Stena Line, but on 5 May 1998 was renamed after the British Ministry of Defence contracted with Stena for a long-term charter of the vessel for freight-carrying capacity to support the Joint Rapid Reaction Force. The ship was launched just four days later on 9 May. Societa Esercizio Cantieri had fallen into financial difficulties, and the contract for the ship was cancelled in 1998 due to delays in construction. At the time, work on the hull was complete and the ship 50 percent finished. The shipyard went bankrupt in 1999, and all work on the ship ceased. In 2002, "the incomplete vessel was purchased from a bankruptcy estate at auction by Stena Line" and renamed Stena Seafreighter. After months of additional financial and performance difficulties by several shipyards in Slovenia and Croatia in 2003, she was towed to Arsenale Shipyard in Venice, and then steamed under her own power to Kraljevica in Croatia for final completion. As a result of the delays, the ship "never sailed as a Royal Fleet Auxiliary" for the British MoD. The ship was renamed Stena Freighter and delivered to Stena Line in March 2004. Stena Freighter operated on a number of ferry routes including Gothenburg–Travemünde, Gothenburg–Kiel, and the Harwich–Rotterdam service. Stena confirmed the sale of the vessel on 30 August 2018, and in October Blue Origin, a U.S. launch service provider and space technology company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, confirmed it was the purchaser. The vessel sailed to Florida and arrived at Pensacola later that month to commence a refit. In March 2017 Blue Origin had unveiled the concept of landing a rocket on a hydrodynamically-stabilized ship that was underway, but did not reveal which marine vessel would be used as the landing platform until October 2018.
Future operations
Launches of the New Glenn launch vehicle are planned to be made from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36, which was leased to Blue Origin in 2015. The first stage boosters of New Glenn are intended to be reusable, and will be recovered downrange in the Atlantic Ocean via LPV. The hydrodynamically-stabilized ship increases the likelihood of successful recovery in rough seas. Blue Origin plans to make the first orbital launch of New Glenn no earlier than 2021.
