Stena Line chief executive Gunnar Blomdahl has confirmed he will step down from the role after ten years on January 1st.

Carl-Johan Hagman, who currently has responsibility for all shipping operations in the Stena Group, has been appointed to the role.

Blomdahl took over as Stena Line’s chief executive in 2003.

Under his leadership Stena has developed into one of the world’s largest ferry companies.

The company has invested around £1.1bn in new tonnage and geographic expansion, most recently through the acquisition of Scandline’s five Baltic routes a few months ago.

“I have been the chief executive for ten years and it is time for a new leader to take over and continue the development of Stena Line,” Blomdahl said.

“I will now continue in the Stena Sphere, including positions on the boards of the Ballingslöv Group, Stena Recycling and Stena Technoworld.”

As a consequence of the change, Carl-Johan Hagman will relinquish the role as chairman for Stena Line and Dan Sten Olsson will once again take on this role.