Hurtigruten

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Hurtigruten (lit. 'Express Route'), formally Kystruten Bergen-Kirkenes ("coastal route Bergen-Kirkenes"),^[1] is a Norwegian public coastal route transporting passengers that travel locally, regionally, and between the ports of call, and also cargo between ports north of Tromsø.^[2]

The coastal route provides daily, year-round, and consistent traffic between Bergen and Kirkenes with 34 ports of call on northbound and 33 ports of call on southbound sailings. The Ministry of Transport and Communications in Norway has set minimum capacity requirements of 320 passengers, 120 berths, and cargo for 150 Euro-pallets. Historically, the route was operated jointly by several shipping companies. In 2006, the last two remaining Hurtigruten companies OVDS and TFDS merged to form the company Hurtigruten AS, named after the route. After the Norwegian transport ministry split the contract, Havila Kystruten AS has operated alongside Hurtigruten AS on the coastal route since 2021. For daily northbound and southbound departures in all Hurtigruten ports, eleven ships are needed; seven of these are currently operated by Hurtigruten AS, four by Havila Kystruten.

As of April 2022, one of the ships of Havila Kystruten, MS Havila Capella, was taken out of service; because of sanctions as a result of the 2022 Invasion of Ukraine, the ship no longer had insurance; "the 4 ships of" the company were at that time financed by a Russian company.^[3] The issue was resolved in June 2022 with a change of the ship's ownership.^[4]