Havila Voyages Halts Investments Over Shortened Norwegian Coastal Route Contract

Havila Voyages announced it will pause the investments planned for the next contract period of the Norwegian coastal route, after the Norwegian government proposed cutting the duration of the agreement from ten years to just four or five. The shipping company warned that the move will affect employment, coastal settlements, emissions reductions and emergency preparedness on the Bergen–Kirkenes route.

The proposal is included in the Norwegian government's 2027 national budget, which will be put to a vote in parliament in December. The new contractual framework would serve as the basis for the tender, which the company said is expected to be launched in the first half of 2027. Among the suspended works are modifications to the vessels to allow the carriage of private cars at all ports along the route.

Havila Voyages CEO Bent Martini stated that a ship is built to sail for decades and that a four- or five-year contract provides no basis for investing in new vessels or major technological advances. According to Martini, short contracts tend to end up costing the State more, since investments must be recovered over a shorter period, and he warned that such a brief duration would, in practice, limit competition to current operators and their existing fleets.

Baird Maritime noted that the oldest vessel on the route will be more than 50 years old when the next contract expires. Havila also questioned the climate requirements proposed by the Ministry of Transport, which suggests setting requirements only when the cost of reduction justifies it. The company's founder, Per Sævik, emphasized that ships, people and jobs along the coast are not built in four or five years and that, once lost, they cannot be recovered.

Under the current agreement for the 2021-2030 period, which includes a one-year extension option, Havila Kystruten operates four routes and Hurtigruten operates another seven. The shipping company aims to make its fleet climate-neutral through biogas by 2028 and to operate emissions-free from 2030 onward; its four vessels use LNG-battery hybrid propulsion and can sail for up to four hours on battery power alone.