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Hurtigruten Norway kicks off one of Europe's biggest environmental upgrades

Hurtigruten Norway has announced that it has initiated one of Europe's largest environmental ship upgrades. With modern technology, the rebuilt ships will cut CO2 emissions by 25 per cent and NOx emissions by as much as 80 per cent. 

Hurtigruten Norway has announced that it has initiated one of Europe’s largest environmental ship upgrades. With modern technology, the rebuilt ships will cut CO2 emissions by 25 per cent and NOx emissions by as much as 80 per cent. 

Hurtigruten Norway says with the upgrades, to be completed in 2023, guests can look forward to greener sailings on all of Hurtigruten Norway’s seven Norwegian Coastal Express ships. 

“This is the largest environmental upgrade in Hurtigruten’s history, and one of the largest of its kind in Europe. This will make a real impact in reducing emissions in Norwegian waters,” said Hedda Felin, CEO, Hurtigruten Norway. 

“The fact that such an investment also leads to ripple effects in the local communities along the coast is something we are very proud of.”

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MS Nordlys

Three of the seven ships will be converted to hybrid ships. The first one is MS Richard With, which is currently at Myklebust Yard in northwestern Norway, where the ship will be fitted with brand new main engines and battery packs. The same will also be done on board MS Kong Harald and MS Nordlys. 

Three other ships – MS Nordnorge, MS Nordkapp and MS Polarlys – will also be upgraded, and have SCR facilities installed on board.

This will reduce NOx emissions by a massive 80 per cent. The last ship in the fleet, MS Vesterålen, was upgraded with brand new engines and SCR facilities already in 2019. 

“Our goal is zero emissions! But the technology is not mature enough yet, and we must do what we can to cut emissions with the best technology available today and extend the service life of the iconic ships we have in our fleet,” Felin said. 

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