Last Friday, April 22, Havila Voyages took delivery of its second ship, the Havila Castor, at the Tersan shipyard in Turkey. The Havila Castor will begin sailing the Bergen-Kirkenes coastal route in May.
Bent Martini, CEO of Havila Voyages, said: “This is a great day for our company; we are ready to bring the Havila Castor home to Norway, to put it into service next Tuesday, May 10.”.
Mehmet Gazioğlu, general manager of the Tersan shipyard, said: “We are very proud to deliver the second vessel in the series, the Havila Castor, and we will work to proceed with the construction of the third and fourth vessels, the Havila Polaris and the Havila Pollux.”.
The Havila Castor is identical to its sister ship, the Havila Capella, which the company delivered in November 2021. The vessel is heading to Bergen to prepare for its maiden round trip. “We expect the Havila Castor to arrive in Bergen around May 5th, and then we will put all the resources we can into getting it up and running as planned,” says Martini.
Havila Voyages' entry into the classic coastal route between Bergen and Kirkenes is one of the largest investments in Norwegian tourism in many years, and the reception so far has been very positive. In early April, its sister ship, the Havila Capella, received the "Next Generation Ship Award" at the Nor-Shipping event held outside Oslo. "Since the ships are identical, the Havila Castor has the same assets as the Havila Capella. This means, among other things, that the ships will be the first to be able to sail emission-free, while we are already sailing more sustainably than ever before on the Norwegian coast. The Havila Castor is clearly also the ship of the future," explains Martini.
The ship can sail for up to four hours on battery power, with zero emissions, and runs on liquefied natural gas (LNG). Furthermore, both vessels are designed to operate on the fuel of the future. Liquid biogas (LBG) can be used almost immediately and blended into the LNG tank. In addition, the onboard systems are prepared to use hydrogen or ammonia as fuel in the future.
