Hurtigruten Norway initiated one of the largest environmental ship upgrades in Europe.
With modern technology, the rebuilt cruise ships will cut CO2 emissions by 25% and NOx emissions by ~80%.
With the upgrades, due to be completed in 2023, passengers can look forward to greener voyages on all of Hurtigruten Norway’s 7 Norwegian Coastal Express vessels.
3 of the 7 cruise ships will be converted to hybrid vessels. The first one is MS Richard With, currently at Myklebust Yard (northwestern Norway) where she will be fitted with new main engines and battery packs. The same will be done onboard MS Nordlys and MS Kong Harald.
3 other ships - MS Nordkapp, MS Nordnorge, and MS Polarlys - will also be refurbished, and have SCR facilities installed onboard. This is expected to reduce NOx emissions by ~80%. The last cruise ship in the fleet, MS Vesteralen, was upgraded with new engines and SCR facilities back in 2019.
Hurtigruten Norway entered into an agreement with Kongsberg Maritime for the vessels that will become hybrids.
MS Richard With is scheduled to return from the shipyard on August 9. MS Kong Harald will then depart for Myklebust Yard for similar upgrades. MS Nordlys follows, and in summer 2023 all cruise ships in the Costal Express will be upgraded.
- Kongsberg Maritime is responsible for upgrades and design work on the 3 ships that are due to undergo the largest upgrade: MS Kong Harald, MS Nordlys, and MS Richard With. They will be hybrid ships with new Norwegian-made engines and large battery packs.
- Myklebust Yard will do the upgrades to the first 2 ships.
- All Hurtigruten Norway’s 7 ships will be fitted with SCR systems cutting NOx emissions by ~80%.
- All Hurtigruten Norway’s ships already have shore power convertibility, which eliminates emissions in ports with shore power available.
- The upgrades feature other changes like new propeller blades, new control systems, new gears, generators, a new bulbous bow, hull optimization.
- The large-scale upgrade means that all 7 Costal Express ships will have emissions equivalent to Tier III, which is the strictest international standard for NOx emissions.
- The upgrades include the installation of state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plants in order to minimize emissions to the sea.
- Hurtigruten Norway will use certified biofuels on a large scale in order to cut CO2 emissions.