Stena Line does ‘Undercover Boss’

Stena Line will be the first Swedish and first ferry company to be featured in the series which sees business leaders going undercover in disguise to get a first hand view of how their business and staff are performing.

Now in its fourth series, previous participants in the programme have included nPower, Best Western and more recently Paddy Power. For Stena Line, CEO Gunnar Blomdahl goes undercover in disguise on its North Sea and Irish Sea routes.

Commenting on the programme Gunnar said: “Undercover Boss provided us with a unique opportunity to demonstrate the quality of our staff and service to an audience that perhaps had not travelled on a ferry before or had not taken a trip for many years. At Stena Line we have invested heavily over recent years to take ferry travel to a new level of comfort and enjoyment. We pride ourselves on being a very customer focused organisation, in fact our company strap line is Making Good Time which is what we try to do on each and every trip for our customers.”

Stena Line has recently invested over one billion pounds on new ships, ports and upgrades including over £375M in building the two largest super ferries in the world, the Stena Hollandica and the Stena Britannica on the North Sea and over £200M on new ports in Cairnryan and Belfast along with two new superfast ships on the Irish Sea service.

Gunnar added: “While every organisation has its rules and procedures, it’s the staff that makes the real difference. They are the public face of our company and they are on the ground when things don’t always go to plan. Their ability to cope, react and perform in a range of challenging situations was one of the key things that I took away from the experience. When you operate a multi billion pound business employing over 6,000 staff across Europe the chances are that there will some areas which occasionally may not be performing to our high standards. Overall I’m very proud of the service we provide and the commitment of our staff. Ferry travel should be a relaxing, enjoyable experience and I will make sure we do all we can as a company to make this a reality for our customers on each and every journey we make.”

The last episode in the current series of Undercover Boss featuring Stena Line will be aired next Monday, August 6 on Channel 4 at 9pm.