Northern Norway News

VIKING Life-Saving Equipment has expanded its network of owned service stations in Norway by acquiring the safety department of Tromsø-based company Lindrup Martinsen.The move will ensure VIKING can deliver even better service to customers in Northern Norway, as it expands its business in the region.Lindrup Martinsen has been a service partner for VIKING for 15 years. VIKING and Lindrup Martinsen have now agreed that VIKING will take over Lindrup Martinsen’s safety department, including 16 employees.

MAN Cryo has been contracted by Torghatten Nord A/S, the Norwegian ferry company, to work on a project encompassing the design and engineering of two hydrogen-powered newbuild RoPax ferries. The project stems from a Norwegian government initiative for major vessels operating on the challenging mainland-Lofoten Islands crossing to become emission-free.MAN Cryo will provide the detail design for bunkering systems, hydrogen piping and vent masts for the vessels. Additionally, MAN Cryo will act as system integrator for the hydrogen process plant…

Eidesvik Offshore, together with Norwegian shipowner Agalas, has entered into an agreement to build a new construction support vessel (CSV), which is on charter with Reach Subsea.The newbuild will be equipped to perform inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) work for subsea and offshore wind markets.Equipped with methanol engines and a battery hybrid system, the vessel will be owned by an entity to be named Eidesvik Agalas AS, where Eidesvik will be the majority owner with 50.1%.The…

The Norwegian government is providing financial support for the construction of three cargo ships that will run emissions-free along the Norwegian coast.Enova, a Norwegian government enterprise promoting the use of clean energy, said it is providing NOK 130 million to Skarv Shipping Solutions AS for the acquisition of three cargo ships that will run on batteries, ammonia engines, rotor sails and energy-saving hull design. The vessels will potentially have a 90% reduction in emissions compared to similar traditional ships."Enova supports those who go ahead.

Hydrogen fuel cell supplier PowerCell announced it has signed an agreement to deliver hydrogen fuel cells to two ships operating on Norway's longest ferry route. The order has a value of €19.2 million, and represents the largest non-combustion fuel propulsion project to date in the global marine industry, the company said.PowerCell will work to deliver the solution with Norwegian systems developer and integrator of low- and zero-emission marine solutions SEAM, who will be responsible for the electrical installations on the ferries. Final delivery is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2024.

Sweden-based PowerCell said it has signed a letter of intent to negotiate final terms concerning one of the marine industry’s largest hydrogen fuel cell projects. Headed by Norwegian electrical integrator SEAM, the project comprises a pair of hydrogen fuel cell powered ferries for passenger and cargo transport in northern Norway, scheduled to enter service in 2025.Torghatten Nord in January 2022 won a contract from the Norwegian Public Roads Administration for operation of the ferry routes crossing the Vestfjord between the Lofoten Islands and Bodø in northern Norway.

Horisont Energi, a company working to develop its blue ammonia project in Norway, has signed a deal with liquid bulk storage company Koole Terminals to develop an ammonia terminal and storage facility at the Port of Rotterdam, for further distribution.Horisont Energi is developing the Barents Blue project in Norway's north, Europe's first large-scale carbon-neutral ammonia plant with offshore carbon storage. Gas for the project will come from Equinor's and Var Energi's offshore fields in the Barents Sea.

Norwegian Electric Systems (NES) has ordered Zinus’ autonomous charging solution for electrification of the ferry connections Bognes-Skarberget and Drag-Kjøpsvik in Nordland county – above the Arctic Circle.From December 1, 2022, both routes will be operated by the ferry company Fjord1. Bognes-Skarberget is an important part of the E6, the main thoroughfare through northern Norway, while the 15-kilometer-long crossing from Drag to Kjøpsvik will be the longest electrified ferry connection in Norway.

Aker Horizons has signed a Letter of Intent with Statkraft and Yara with the aim to establish "Europe's first industrial-scale green ammonia project in Norway, enable the hydrogen economy, and accelerate the energy transition." The company said the first project in the partnership will be to electrify Yara's existing ammonia facility in Porsgrunn, "which has the potential to be one of the largest climate initiatives in Norwegian industrial history."The partners will further target green hydrogen and green ammonia opportunities within shipping…

Dutch company SBM Offshore has announced the sailaway of the last two modules for the Turret Mooring System built for Equinor's Johan Castberg FPSO which will, once completed, be deployed in the Barents Sea, offshore Norway.The modules will be shipped to Singapore aboard a heavy-transportation vessel. Once in Singapore, the modules will be integrated into the hull of Equinor’s Johan Castberg FPSO. Commenting on the completion of the construction phase of the turret mooring system…

It was Canadian whalers, the Norwegians tell us, who first noticed that a dead whale does not bob in the waves. The carcass didn’t pitch or roll, either, and it was somehow “self-propelled” — its fins giving it forward motion and acting as stabilizers, or foils. The story still inspires Trondheim company Wavefoil, maker of scalable, retractable foils that offer ship owners and designers fuel savings and passenger comfort. In Norway, high-speed ferries, cruise ships and fishing vessels are the first customers for retrofits and newbuilds.

MAN Energy Solutions said that its marine LNG fuel-gas-system manufacturer MAN Cryo has been contracted to supply an LNG fuel-gas supply system for Norwegian shipowner, Egil Ulvan Rederi newbuild.According to MAN,  the LNG fuel-gas system will be supplied for a ‘multipurpose palletized cargo and refrigerated vessel, also known as a LoLo (Lift-on/Lift-off).The vessel is designed by Førde, Norway designer, Multi Maritime, that already counts a number of LNG-powered vessels in its portfolio. The MM85CC design will be built at Tersan Shipyard in Turkey.Tersan has, over the years, also built quite a number of LNG-powered vessels and this will be the sixth such vessel since 2016 that it will outfit with a marine fuel-gas system delivered by MAN Cryo.

The state-owned enterprise Space Norway signed a NOK 618 million (USD 71.5 million) contract with Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) for the delivery of ground station services to provide satellite-based broadband in the Artic.Space Norway owns 50% of Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT), a company that reads data from satellites that are observing the Earth from space.The contract is related to Space Norway’s newly announced cooperation with the satellite operator Inmarsat and the Norwegian Ministry of Defence to offer mobile broadband coverage in the Arctic.The two satellites related to this cooperation are scheduled to be launched by SpaceX in 2022.

Havila Kystruten and Kongsberg have signed a 10-year  “Power-by-the-Hour” service agreement for four new coastal cruise vessels that are currently under construction. The contract value is 150 million kroner ($17.5 million).Power-by-the-Hour was launched in 2017, and was first sold to the cargo operator NorLines the same year. The agreement means that the vessel owner is handing the responsibility for service planning and performance back to the equipment’s supplier, Kongsberg Maritime. The customer pays a fixed charge per hour of operation, per ship.

GAC Norway opens new Arctic Circle branch at Tromsø in response to growing demand, said the company.Sitting 300km north of the Arctic Circle, Tromsø is the largest urban area in Northern Norway and serves as a portal to the Arctic. It is a popular port of call for cruise vessels, including those specialising in winter tours to treat their passengers to spectacular views of the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis).Tromsø is also growing in popularity as a base port for the oil & gas and offshore industries.In the past two years, GAC has seen a significant increase in activity at the port, following the signing of two new cruise contracts.

Rolls-Royce Commercial Marine has signed a contract to deliver ship design and an extensive range of equipment to a 70-meter long stern trawler to be built for Engenes fiskeriselskap AS, based in Troms county, northern Norway.This highly advanced fishing vessel is to be built by Gondan shipyard in Spain.The vessel will be of type NVC 370 with a low resistant hull design, which meets increased demands for fuel efficiency combined with good sea keeping. It will be equipped with a package of power and propulsion…

Rolls-Royce has signed a contract to deliver ship design and an extensive range of equipment to a 70-metre long stern trawler to be built for Engenes fiskeriselskap AS, based in Troms county, northern Norway.This highly advanced fishing vessel is to be built by Gondan shipyard in Spain, said a press release from Rolls-Royce.Shipowners Johannes Arne and Børge Arvesen, Engenes fiskeriselskap, said: "This is a milestone for our company and carries on the proud traditions of trawl fishing in our part of Norway."The vessel will be of type NVC 370 with a low resistant hull design, which meets increased demands for fuel efficiency combined with good sea keeping.

Northern Norway's small port of Honningsvag will host between 150 and 160 ship-to-ship transfers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargos from Russia's Yamal by mid-2019, the local council that owns the port told Reuters on Tuesday.The first transfer in Norwegian waters took place last week as part of Yamal operator Novatek's plan to free up its specialised ice-breaker LNG vessels, allowing them to return sooner to the plant to pick up more cargos.From Honningsvag, shipments to global…

Samskip subsidiary Nor Lines will include calls at Rotterdam for the first time in its weekly multipurpose liner service connecting to Western, Mid and Northern Norway, with effect from June 1st. The service is provided by Nor Lines' state of the art, LNG-fuelled vessels MV Kvitnos and MV Kvitbjorn. These flexible ships will sail in 14-day loops, connecting Rotterdam and Eemshaven with Norwegian ports from Hammerfest in the far north, and taking in calls including Sandnes/Tananger, Bergen, Trondheim, Ålesund, Bodo and Tromso. In Rotterdam, the call will be accommodated at the SCA Logistics terminal, whose lay-out, equipment and experience focus on multipurpose vessels, RoRo, Break-bulk and containers can be handled in one place which is essential for this service.

The Norwegian ship owning company Havila Kystruten AS, has ordered four new build Ro-Pax vessels of Havyard 923 design. Rolls-Royce Commercial Marine will provide power and propulsion for all four ships.From January 2021, Havila Kystruten will operate four ships on the coastal route between the cities of Bergen in south western, and Kirkenes in northern, Norway. The company has contracted Spain’s Astillero Hijos de J. Barreras shipyard to build two of the cruise ferries and Turkey’s…

Norwegian minister of petroleum and energy Kjell-Børge Freiberg cut the first sheet for the topside of the Johan Castberg floating production, storage and offloading unit (FPSO) at Kværner's yard at Stord on Wednesday as part of a large scale  project triggering ripple effects throughout Norway.The topside will be installed on the 200-meter long FPSO vessel that will be producing on the Johan-Castberg field for 30 years from the planned production start in 2022.The field development concept includes a FPSO vessel and extensive subsea development…

Netherlands-based  global logistics company Samskip is restructuring the multi-purpose cargo and reefer services connecting North Sea and Baltic ports to Norway operated by subsidiary Nor Lines.A press release from the company stated: "The overhaul, effective from October 1st, 2018, will meet rising demand for reefer and project cargo services southbound and increase capacity for conventional and project cargoes northbound along the Norwegian coast and beyond to Murmansk. Two existing multi-purpose service loops increase to three."In the most obvious change, capacity on the three-ship Nor Lines service between Baltic ports and Norway will be expanded to four vessels, each with reefer/palletized and deck space, and 50mt heavy lift crane capacity.

Russia's Novatek has begun production of the commissioning LNG from its third 5.5 million mt/year train at the Yamal LNG project, bringing the plant's total capacity to 16.5 mln tonnes of LNG per year.“We have successfully launched all three LNG trains at our flagship Yamal LNG project according to our revised early launch schedule,” Novatek’s head Leonid Mikhelson said.Russia’s largest independent natural gas producer said in a press release that the third LNG train was launched more than one year ahead of the planned original schedule. All three technological trains have been launched on budget, it said.This fact is unprecedented for the industry plagued by massive cost overruns and project delays…