Hurtigruten Cruise Ships to Be Partly Powered By Dead Fish

Cutaways from fisheries and other organic waste will soon be used to power Hurtigruten’s fleet of green cruise ships.

With a growing fleet of 17 ships, Hurtigruten is the world’s largest expedition cruise line. The company has invested heavily in green technology, such as battery solutions.

The next step: Powering cruise ships with liquified biogas (LBG) – fossil-free, renewable gas produced from dead fish and other organic waste.

Renewable biogas is a clean source of energy, considered the eco-friendliest fuel currently available, according to the cruise line. Biogas is already used as fuel in small parts of the transport sector, especially in buses. Northern Europe and Norway, which have large fishery and forestry sectors that produces a steady volume of organic waste, have a unique opportunity to become world leader in biogas production.

After celebrating the line's 125-year anniversary by being the first cruise line to ban single-use plastic, 2019 will mark two green milestones for Hurtigruten:

  • Introduction of the world’s first battery-hybrid powered cruise ship, MS Roald Amundsen, custom built for sustainable operations in waters such as Antarctica.
  • The start of a large-scale green upgrade project, replacing traditional diesel propulsion with battery packs and gas engines on several Hurtigruten ships.

In addition to liquified natural gas (LNG), these ships will also be the first cruise ships in the world to run on liquified biogas (LBG).

There are more than 300 cruise ships in the world, many of them running on cheap, polluting heavy fuel oil (HFO). The daily emissions from one single mega cruise ship can according to NGOs be equivalent to one million cars.

Hurtigruten is currently building three hybrid powered expedition cruise ships at Norway’s Kleven Yard. MS Roald Amundsen, MS Fridtjof Nansen and the third, unnamed sister, will be delivered in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Hurtigruten expects to invest more than 850 million USD in making the cruise line greener. 

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