Tuesday morning Statens Vegvesen and Torghatten Nord signed the contract to operate Vestfjordstrekninga from 2025. The ferries will run on hydrogen.

Background

Vestfjordstrekninga connects Bodø, Røst, Værøy and Moskenes and is the longest ferry connection in Norway with 278 kilometres. Due to tourism, there is a big increase in traffic on the ferry in the summer season and it is also an important connection for the business development in the community.

Great opportunity

Two new ferries will be used on Vestfjorden, with a minimum of 85% hydrogen-based fuels. The ferries will be bunkering between 5 and 6 tons of hydrogen per day. Capacity on the ferries will also be increased, where passenger capacity is increased by 60% and car capacity by 40%. This will have a great impact on tourism in the area.

Illustration of the new hydrogen ferry for Vestfjorden-strekninga. Torghatten will operate Vestfjordstrekninga for 15 years, from 2025 until 2040. Illustration: Norwegian Ship Design

The new ferries will reduce CO2-emissions by 26.500 tons yearly compared with the current ferries on LNG. The reduction equals the yearly emissions from 13.000 diesel cars.

Torkild Torkilsen, CEO in Torghatten Nord, says that the contract is groundbreaking for developing use of hydrogen as an energy carrier in the maritime sector.

There is a lot of activity around hydrogen production now, but there is no one to sell it to. We will be the first large purchaser of hydrogen in Norway, thanks to Statens Vegvesen and the government for their offensive decisions for climate. This also gives great opportunities for shipyards and the supply industry to participate on developing competence in use of hydrogen as an energycarrier, says Torkildsen.

Torghatten Nord collaborated with Norwegian Ship Design from Førde in developing an interesting and innovative design for the new hydrogen ferries, according to Statens Vegvesen.

Norwegian Ship Design is a member of Ocean Hyway Cluster.