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When travelling on Stena Line between Harwich and Hoek van Holland, there is a passenger footbridge in Hoek van Holland but not in Harwich. Stena Line says:

Due to the replacement of the passenger gangway in Harwich by Harwich International Port all foot passenger will be transferred to and from the vessel by bus via the car deck until further notice.

When, if ever, is the replacement planned to be completed?

I've rarely seen a footbridge anywhere else than Hoek van Holland (none at Harwich, Birkenhead, Belfast, Nynäshamn, Gdańsk), and I suspect foot passengers make up only a very small part of Stena Line revenue (it has happened that we were less than 5 foot passengers in total, among hundreds of cars and lorries), so it would not surprise me if they decided to not replace it at all.

I found two relevant questions on Stena Lines Facebook page (asked in 2015 and 2016), but both are unanswered.

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  • When's the last time you took the ferry? This Harwich port website states that there is a passenger footbridge/gangway and specifically mentions two Stena ferries.
    – mkennedy
    Jun 6, 2017 at 16:35
  • @mkennedy I arrived by ferry from Hoek van Holland to Harwich this morning (2017-06-06) on Stena Line's Stena Brittanica.
    – gerrit
    Jun 6, 2017 at 17:29
  • Ha! Okay, have you tried asking the port?
    – mkennedy
    Jun 6, 2017 at 17:33
  • @mkennedy I dropped them an e-mail, will post any response in question or answer depending on its contents.
    – gerrit
    Jun 6, 2017 at 17:43
  • @mkennedy It seems rather the port website is not kept up-to-date. They still mention the DFDS Seaways ferry to Denmark, even though it ceased to exist in 2014.
    – gerrit
    Jun 6, 2017 at 17:51

2 Answers 2

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I traveled from Harwich to Hoek van Holland last Monday, and sadly even though the "busy summer period" surely has started by now, well over 2 months past gerrit received that response, the gangway was still closed. :-(

[UPDATE, 2018-12-17] I just noticed a Google search for "Harwich Stena gangway" has this as the first result and nothing else useful so let me update: I've boarded the Stena Line ferry at Harwich through a gangway. No more bus transfer, hurray!

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I asked Harwich Port by e-mail. In an e-mail dated 7 June 2017, they replied to me:

We can advise that the boarding bridge is slightly delayed. We are expecting it to be arriving next month and hope for it to be operational before the busy summer period.

So looks like it should be here soon!

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