Norwegian Coast News

Norwegian cruise company Hurtigruten sustained a cyberattack earlier on Monday and several key systems are currently down, the company said in a statement.The company, which operates ferries along the Norwegian coast as well as cruises in the Arctic and Antarctic in normal times, said it did not expect the attack to lead to a “material financial effect”, it said.“This is a serious attack.

A project to produce a novel emissions-slashing hydrogen passenger ferry has been granted €8 million ($9.4 million) in European funding as the Norwegian government announces strengthened focus on development and commercialization of hydrogen as a carbon-neutral fuel.The HySHIP project involves 14 European partners collaborating on the design and construction of a new ro-ro demonstration vessel running on liquid green hydrogen (LH2), as well as the establishment of a viable LH2 supply chain and bunkering platform.

Norwegian cruise ship operator Hurtigruten has decided to cancel the remaining of the Antarctica 20/21 season cruises - from January and throughout the first quarter of 2021, citing the impact of the pandemic. It will also reduce the capacity on the Norwegian coast.The decision follows Hurtigruten's announcement in September when it said it would suspend remaining cruises in 2020, with plans to resume operation in January 2021."The Covid-19 pandemic is still affecting large parts of the world and travel restrictions and quarantine requirements are wide spread and changing rapidly.

Norway's Hurtigruten has called off its remaining cruises this year due to the rise in COVID-19 cases in Europe and the Americas, the company said on Thursday."Our goal is to resume operations in January 2021," the company said in a statement.The decision affects Hurtigruten's so-called expedition cruises, which often take passengers into Arctic or Antarctic waters, though its business of shipping goods and people between ports along the Norwegian coast will continue.The company was the first cruise operator worldwide to return an oceangoing cruise ship to service in mid-June…

Norwegian technology firm Kongsberg announced it will install and test autonomous ship technologies on two vessels in Europe's inland waterways and short sea coastal shipping routes.The AUTOSHIP project will aim to test and further develop key technology linked to fully autonomous navigation systems, intelligent machinery systems, self-diagnostics, prognostics and operation scheduling, as well as communication technology enabling a prominent level of cyber security and integrating the vessels into upgraded e-infrastructure…

Hurtigruten’s new hybrid battery powered expedition cruise ship MS Fridtjof Nansen has completed sea trials and will be completed earlier than expected. As a result, Hurtigruten is adding a series of shorter pre-inaugural voyages.MS Fridtjof Nansen is packed with green technology and large battery packs and is, alongside her sister ship MS Roald Amundsen, the world’s first battery-hybrid powered cruise ship.The Vessel is set for delivery by the end of 2019, well ahead of her April 1 inaugural voyage from Hamburg to the Norwegian coast.Departing from London (March 7)…

Vestdavit secured an order to supply three new Norwegian Coast Guard vessels with davits equipped for polar conditions, in a project which also calls for installation of a deck-mounted transfer system for rapid deployment.The ships are being built by Vard Group within the P6615 project to replace Nordkapp-class ships with a new generation of search-and-rescue, surveillance, and oil recovery vessels. The 136m length newbuildings have been developed for worldwide operations including arctic areas and will feature ice-strengthened hulls and ice-class notation on their delivery from Vard Langsten…

Norwegian Coast Guard ship KV Svalbard is the first vessel powered by an ABB Azipod propulsion system to reach the North Pole.The ship is equipped with twin 5MW Azipod icebreaking units which enabled it to sail through polar ice at speeds of up to 6 to 7 knots when it took part in an international scientific expedition, the Coordinated Arctic Acoustic Thermometry Experiment led by Norwegian research foundation The Nansen Center.The Azipod electric propulsion system is designed to make s ships highly maneuverable…

A new solar vessel that can theoretically be submerged and remain unharmed has been produced by repurposing a lifeboat that could originally accommodate 100 people.Two British architects, Guylee Simmonds and David Schnabel, recognized that the craft could be converted into an adventure vessel that could explore the Norwegian Artic while offering its occupants all the comforts of home.“We wanted to experience a range of different cultures, different approaches to living by the sea, different landscapes, different climates.

While nothing lasts forever, the cruise industry – and particularly the ‘expedition’ cruise sector – remain on a historic run with no indication of a near-term slowdown.The leisure travel sector, of which expedition cruising is a part, offers numerous possibilities for delivering new “experiences” unlike industrial shipping businesses (or even conventional ferry and passenger transport), which can only grow as fast as the demand in a particular sector.Though there is no precise definition of “expedition”…

Three vessels lined up for large-scale makeovers will be transformed to hybrid powered expedition cruise ships, owner and operator Hurtigruten announced.Equipped with battery packs and other green technology, the three ships will operate year-round expedition cruises along the Norwegian coast from 2021 on yet to be disclosed itineraries.This means Hurtigruten – which this summer introduced hybrid powered cruise ship, MS Roald Amundsen – will add another three hybrid powered vessels to its fleet of cruise ships.As they are transformed into full-fledged premium expedition cruise ships…

Hybrid powered expedition cruise ship MS Roald Amundsen continues to make history – as Hurtigruten has announced the first ever ship naming ceremony in Antarctica. Instead of the traditional bottle of champagne, MS Roald Amundsen’s explorer heritage will be honored by naming the vessel with a chunk of ice.The naming ceremony will take place this fall, as the first world’s first hybrid powered cruise ship makes her way to the white continent on her maiden Antarctica voyage."We…

Samson recently completed a sea exercise to validate performance of the recently developed EVATS system, an emergency towing exercise was led by the Norwegian Coastal Administration in a fjord southwest of Sortland, Norway.Samson, the Alaska Maritime Prevention & Response Network (Alaska Network) and Kystvakte (Norwegian Coast Guard) crew members participated in a system briefing and orientation on March 7, and then commenced the sea trial on the March 8, 2019. Two Kystvakte vessels…

Kongsberg Maritime will supply a Power & Propulsion System for a new LNG powered multi-purpose cargo vessel of design MM85CC LNG by Multi Maritime.The clean and efficient Kongsberg Maritime propulsion system features a Bergen B36:45L6PG gas engine and LNG control and safety system, a Promas controllable pitch propeller and rudder system, together with a battery pack to enable periods of emission free operation in ports and environmentally sensitive areas.The 3,500dwt vessel is currently under construction at Tersan Shipyard, Turkey, for Norwegian ship owner Egil Ulvan Rederi AS.

Norway is growing its arsenal of military grade drones for missions that’ll take them into the exhaust streams of ship’s funnels. With the IMO now supporting the 0.1 percent sulfur cap on marine fuel from Jan. 2020, and with southern Norway below the 62nd parallel officially a European Emissions Control Area, or ECA, the Norwegian Maritime Authority, the NMA, is cracking down on illegal sulfur emissions.Oslo’s NMA and its domestic enforcement allies — the Norwegian Coast Guard (Kystvakten)…

Hurtigruten’s MS Roald Amundsen is nearing completion at Kleven Yard. This weekend the world’s first hybrid powered cruise ship completed her first sea trials in the fjords along the western coast of Norway.With Norwegian fjords as testing ground – and the famous Sunnmøre alps as a spectacular backdrop – MS Roald Amundsen’s advanced, green technology was put to a test in the waters off Kleven Yard in Ulsteinvik, Norway, over the weekend.Custom built for some of the most extreme waters on the planet…

Pump and liquid handling specialist PG Flow Solutions is working with Norsk Fisketransport AS (NFT) to develop a new service programme to further optimise the operational uptime of the shipowner’s vessels.The Norwegean wellbore shipping company said that PG Flow Solutions has assisted it with identifying flexible pump systems that can be utilized across the company’s wellboat fleet.In the wake of this, NTF has identified and ordered selected cargo-critical pumps that are prepared for storage and will be available as spare pumps for use on board several of NFT’s wellboats, it said.Norsk Fisketransport AS provides wellboat services along the Norwegian coast. The company operates eight wellboats.PG Flow Solutions is also launching a pilot project for condition monitoring of the pumps.

Hurtigruten orders third hybrid-powered expedition cruise shipGrowth in the global cruise sector continues, as Hurtigruten, the world’s largest expedition cruise operator, signed an MOU with shipbuilder Kleven Verft AS for the construction of a third hybrid-powered expedition cruise ship. Tom Mulligan, Maritime Reporter’s Science & Technology writer, reports from Norway.“We are thrilled to introduce yet another revolutionary hybrid-powered expedition ship,” enthused Hurtigruten’s CEO, Daniel Skjeldam.

Hurtigruten is to expand Alaska sailings in 2020 by deploying new hybrid-powered MS Roald Amundsen in the region.The Norwegian expedition cruise specialist, who claims to be  the world’s greenest and most extensive expedition cruise program, said that this new location adds to the company's expanding cruise program, which offers more than 250 worldwide destinations in the 2020/2021 season.Hurtigruten will run a series of seven voyages covering the highlights of the Inside Passage combined with off the beaten path destinations rarely visited by other cruise lines such as Petersburg.The inaugural season of the ground-breaking hybrid powered and eco-friendly MS Fridtjof Nansen – exploring the unspoiled and raw beauty of Antarctica…

Swedish shipping company Sirius Shipping Sirius Shipping has taken delivery of its first 7999-dwt LNG-ready oil/chemical tanker Saturnus from the Avic  Dingheng Shipyard  in China.The Backman family- founded company said in a press release that the work to develop the Evolution concept started six years ago with the purpose to develop a vessel design where the entire underwater body, hull, rudder and propeller would be designed and chosen to obtain the best possible hydrodynamic shipdesign.In combination with a slow speed two stroke diesel engine the Evolution vessels will be considerably more fuel efficient than any other delivered tanker this size…

A Norwegian navy frigate that collided with an oil tanker last week was almost completely submerged on Tuesday despite efforts to salvage the sinking vessel, pictures taken by the Norwegian Coastal Administration showed.The ship's plight off the Norwegian coast is, however, not disrupting the nearby Sture crude oil export terminal. "We are in normal operations," said a spokeswoman for the plant's operator, Equinor.The Norwegian military has been working since Thursday to salvage the ship by tethering it with several cables to the shore.

Netherlands-based  global logistics company Samskip is restructuring the multi-purpose cargo and reefer services connecting North Sea and Baltic ports to Norway operated by subsidiary Nor Lines.A press release from the company stated: "The overhaul, effective from October 1st, 2018, will meet rising demand for reefer and project cargo services southbound and increase capacity for conventional and project cargoes northbound along the Norwegian coast and beyond to Murmansk. Two existing multi-purpose service loops increase to three."In the most obvious change, capacity on the three-ship Nor Lines service between Baltic ports and Norway will be expanded to four vessels, each with reefer/palletized and deck space, and 50mt heavy lift crane capacity.

Shipping company Nor Lines has allocated its two LNG-powered multipurpose vessels to a biweekly liner service from the SCA terminal in Rotterdam to the Norwegian coast. Titan LNG, the service supplier of liquefied natural gas, will be supplying the chilled fuel to two Nor Lines' vessels - The MV Kvitnos and the MV Kvitbjørn. The ships are bunkering, like the Wes Amelie, with Titan LNG at the City Terminal in the Prins Willem Alexander harbour (port number 2790). The LNG is delivered to the vessels by trucks. The Port of Rotterdam and Titan LNG have set up the site temporarily to bunker LNG to sea-going vessels until there are sufficient LNG bunker barges available. Nor lines is a fully owned subsidiary of the shipping company Samskip.