Hurtigruten

MS Trollfjord, in service since 2010, in Molde

Hurtigruten ("Express Route", also known as the Norwegian Coastal Express) is a Norwegian cruise, ferry and cargo operator. The company was founded in 1893 to operate voyages on Norway's western and northern coast between Bergen and Kirkenes. Hurtigruten ships sail almost the entire length of the country, completing the round-trip journey in 11 days. The trip has been described as the "World's Most Beautiful Sea Voyage," with stops in such places as Bergen, the Geiranger fjord, and the Lofoten Islands. The company has nearly 2% of the worldwide cruise market.[1] More recently, Hurtigruten has begun operating cruises in other areas such as Greenland, Canada, South America, Iceland, Svalbard, and Antarctica.

History

Vesteraalen near Bodø on her first round-trip in 1893.

Hurtigruten was established in 1893 by government contract to improve communications along Norway's long, jagged coastline. Vesteraalen began the first round-trip journey from Trondheim on 2 July 1893 bound for Hammerfest, with calls at Rørvik, Brønnøy, Sandnessjøen, Bodø, Svolvær, Lødingen, Harstad, Tromsø and Skjervøy. The ship arrived at Svolvær on Monday 3 July at 8pm after 35½ hours and at Hammerfest on Wednesday 5 July after 67 hours. She was captained by Hurtigruten founder Richard With. As of 2008, the Trondheim–Svolvær trip took 33 hours and the Trondheim–Hammerfest trip took 41 hours 15 min.

Before Hurtigruten opened, only Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab was willing to make the trip through the then poorly-charted waters; the voyage was especially difficult during the long, dark winters. Hurtigruten was a substantial breakthrough for communities along its path. Mail from central Norway to Hammerfest, which used to take three weeks in summer and five months in winter, could now be delivered in seven days.

The 1982-built Narvik in Svolvær. The ship was sold in 2007.

Encouraged by Vesteraalens' early success, several other shipping companies obtained a concession to operate the route, extended to run between Bergen in the southwest and Kirkenes in the far northeast. A fleet of 11 ships visits each of the 34 ports daily, both northbound and southbound.

Beginning in the 1980s, the role of Hurtigruten changed; operating subsidies were gradually phased out and the operators put more emphasis on tourism. New, bigger and more luxurious ships were introduced, with attention given to hot tubs, bars, restaurants and other comforts. However, Hurtigruten still serves important passenger and cargo needs, and operates 365 days a year. The last two independent shipping companies, Ofotens og Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab (OVDS) and Troms Fylkes Dampskibsselskap (TFDS), merged on 1 March 2006 as the Hurtigruten Group, a year later becoming Hurtigruten ASA. In 2015 Hurtigruten was delisted from the Oslo stock exchange after the company was acquired by a private equity group. In addition to the voyages in Norway, the company operates expedition cruises to Greenland, Canada, South America, Iceland, Svalbard and Antarctica.

Current fleet

MS Nordlys at Hammerfest in June 2005, displaying the TFDS funnel colours.
MS Richard With between Svolvær and Kabelvåg

Hurtigruten coastal vessels

Expedition ships

Expedition ships on order

MS Nordstjernen in Bergen

The coastal steamer MS Finnmarken, built in 1956, and the superstructure of the first Finmarken are on land at Stokmarknes as a museum about Hurtigruten: a new Finnmarken has since been added to the fleet. One vessel of the oldest generation, MS Lofoten (1964), is still in use. MS Nordstjernen (1956) was also in use for Hurtigruten until she was sold in 2012 and at the same time protected as a national heritage in Norway. The other vessels in use were built between 1982 and 2003, most of them in the late 1990s or early 2000s.

MS Fram, named after Fridtjof Nansen's famous expedition ship Fram, delivered in 2007, is used exclusively on cruises, around Greenland during the northern hemisphere summer and around Antarctica during the northern hemisphere winter.[3]

Sailing list

In order, northbound:

Live television broadcast

As part of its slow television series, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation transmitted non-stop the Hurtigruten ship MS Nordnorge's 134-hour voyage from Bergen to Kirkenes, which set sail on June 16, 2011.[4]

Post-World War II accidents and incidents

Memorial in Bodø commemmorating the incident on board of MS Earling Jarl in 1958. Total height: 2,3 meters. Sculptor: Istvan Lisztes.

In September 1954 SS Nordstjernen ran aground in Raftsundet at night. The ship started taking in water and sank. Five persons died. There were 157 passengers and a crew of 46 on board.[5][6]

On January 8, 1959, a fire on board of MS Erling Jarl broke out while being docked at Bodø harbour. Due to the thick smoke 14 people died of smoke poisoning. Today a memorial at the shoreline of Bodø reminds of the incident.[7][8]

On October 21, 1962 MS Sanct Svithun ran onto a reef in the maritime area Folda in Nord-Trøndelag because of a major navigational error after leaving Trondheim. Of 89 persons on board (passengers, crew and two postal officers) 41 died.[9]

In 2011 MS Nordlys suffered an engine room fire, leading to two deaths among the crew.[10]

References

Notes

  1. ↑ "2012 World Wide Market Share". Cruise Market Watch. 20 November 2011.
  2. ↑ "Hurtigruten names two new hybrid expedition vessels". Expedition Cruising. 25 October 2016.
  3. ↑ Micke Asklander. "MS Fram (2007)". Fakta om Fartyg (in Swedish). Retrieved 7 February 2008.
  4. ↑ Anders Hofseth (16 June 2011). "Hurtigruten: 5 day TV marathon in the midnight sun". NRK.
  5. ↑ Rydheim, Per (28 November 2010). "D/S Nordstjernen". Vol.no. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  6. ↑ "Ulykker og forlis" [Accidents and shipwrecks]. Hurtigrutemuseet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  7. ↑ "History Erling Jarl (1949)". The Virtual Museum of Hurtigruten. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  8. ↑ Elling Finnanger Snøfugl. "Klart for minnesmerke". Avisa nordland. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  9. ↑ "Historien Sanct Svithun" [History of Sanct Svithun]. Hurtigrutemuseet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  10. ↑ Torgeir P. Krokfjord, Geir Barstein, and Fridgeir Walderhaug (15 September 2011). "To bekreftet omkommet etter brann på hurtigruta" [Two confirmed dead after fire on Hurtigruten]. Dagbladet (in Norwegian).

Bibliography

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  • Bakka, Dag; Kolltveit, Bård; Mo, Sverre (2003). Hurtigruten: sjøveien mot nord [Hurtigruten: by sea to the north] (in Norwegian) (rev. ed.). Bergen: Seagull. ISBN 8291258171. 
  • Bakka, Dag (2011). Livslinje og eventyrreise: historien om Hurtigruten [Lifeline and Adventure Travel: A History of Hurtigruten] (in Norwegian). Bergen: Bodoni. ISBN 9788271286255. 
  • Beer, Gerhard (2012). The World's Greatest Cruises: explore, dream, discover. München: Monaco Books. ISBN 9783899448856. 
  • Bent, Mike (1987). Coastal Express: the ferry to the top of the world. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0851774466. 
  • Bryant, John (2012). Hurtigruten 120: The Complete Story. Ramsey, Isle of Man: Ferry Publications. ISBN 9781906608682. 
  • Bryant, John (2013). Hurtigruten 120. Ramsey, Isle of Man: Ferry Publications. ISBN 9781906608637. 
  • Eliassen, Per; Rasch-Tellefsen, Bjørn (2000). Hurtigruten: Velkommen om bord / Welcome on board / Willkommen an Bord (in Norwegian, English, and German). Harstad, Norway: To-Foto. ISBN 8299550106. 
  • Küchler, Kai-Uwe (2009). Faszinierende Hurtigruten [Fascinating Hurtigruten] (in German). Würzburg: Verlagshaus Würzburg - Flechsig. ISBN 9783803520043. 
  • Küchler, Kai-Uwe; Küchler, Manfred (2011). Abenteuer Hurtigruten: Mit dem Postschiff ins Reich der Mitternachtssonne [Hurtigruten Adventure: by mail ship to the realm of the midnight sun] (in German). Würzburg, Germany: Verlag-Haus Würzburg. ISBN 9783800346011. 
  • Küchler, Kai-Uwe; Küchler, Manfred (2015). Hurtigruten: Mit dem Postschiff ins Licht der Mitternachtssonne [Hurtigruten: by mail ship into the light of the midnight sun] (in German). Würzburg, Germany: Stürtz. ISBN 9783800346196. 
  • Möbius, Michael; Ster, Annette (2016). Hurtigruten: die schönste Seereise der Welt [Hurtigruten: the most beautiful sea voyage in the world] (in German) (5th ed.). Ostfildern, Germany: DuMont Reiseverlag. ISBN 9783770173990. 
  • Mosler, Axel M.; Schröder, Ralf (2013). Traumreise Hurtigruten [Dream Trip Hurtigruten] (in German). München: Bruckmann. ISBN 9783765458798. 
  • Pollmann, Bernhard (2014). Hurtigruten: die schönste Seereise der Welt [Hurtigruten: the most beautiful sea voyage in the world] (in German). München: Kunth Verlag. ISBN 9783955040819. 
  • Römmelt, Bernd (2008). Bildschöne Hurtigruten [Beautiful Hurtigruten] (in German). München: Bruckmann. ISBN 9783765447839. 
  • Spitzenberger, Hans-Joachim; Mosler, Axel M. (2016). Hurtigruten - Zeit für das Beste Highlights - Geheimtipps - Wohlfühladressen [Hurtigruten - Time for the Best Highlights - Insider Tips - Wellbeing Addresses] (in German) (4th revised ed.). München: Bruckmann. ISBN 9783734308369. 
  • Schröder, Ralf (2011). Die Schiffe der Hurtigruten vom Postdampfer zum Erlebnisliner [The Ships of Hurtigruten from the mail steamers to the adventure liners] (in German). Bielefeld: Delius Klasing. ISBN 9783768833233. 
  • Schröder, Ralf (2016). Hurtigruten (in German) (2nd ed.). Bielefeld, Germany: Delius Klasing. ISBN 9783667105561. 
  • Stavseth, Redar (1963). Nordover med Hurtigruten: Historie og hverdagsbilder gjennom sytti år [Northward with Hurtigruten: History and everyday images through seventy years] (in Norwegian). Oslo: Grundt Tanum. OCLC 504478333. 
  • Stickeln, Lutz; Babovic, Toma (2009). Hurtigruten (in German). Hamburg: Ellert & Richter. ISBN 9783831903535. 
  • Storrusten, Erling (1994). Hurtigruten: the world's most beautiful sea voyage. Narvik: Ofotens og Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab. ISBN 8299315409. 
  • Weyer, Helfried (2002). Hurtigruten: mit dem Postschiff durch Norwegen [Hurtigruten: by mail ship through Norway] (in German) (4th ed.). Steinfurt: Tecklenborg-Verlag. ISBN 3924044473. 
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Hurtigruten.

Media related to Hurtigruten at Wikimedia Commons

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