Hurtigruten AS is a Norwegian coastal

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

service and

cruise line A cruise line is a company (law), company that operates cruise ships that operate on Cruising (maritime), ocean or River cruise, rivers and which markets cruises to the public. Cruise lines are distinct from Passenger ship, passenger lines whic ...

headquartered in Oslo,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It is the larger of two companies currently operating ''

Hurtigruten ''Hurtigruten'' (), formally Kystruten Bergen-Kirkenes ("coastal route Bergen-Kirkenes"), is a Norwegian public coastal route transporting passengers that travel locally, regionally, and between the ports of call, and also cargo between ports ...

'', the coastal ferry service along the Norwegian coast from which it takes its name. The

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

is Hedda Felin.

History

Hurtigruten AS is the result of a

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

between the previous operators of the Hurtigruten service,

Troms Fylkes Dampskibsselskap Troms Fylkes Dampskibsselskap or TFDS is a defunct Norwegian shipping company that also has activities in public transport and tourism. Based in Tromsø the company was one of the two operators of the Coastal Express and also operated a number o ...

(TFDS) and

Ofotens og Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab Ofotens og Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab or OVDS was a Norwegian shipping company that operated ferries in Northern Norway, including the Coastal Express, car ferries and passenger ferries. The company merged with Troms Fylkes Dampskibsselska ...

(OVDS). TFDS was founded in 1866, and OVDS was established in 1868. The two companies merged in March 2006 to form Hurtigruten Group ASA, and twelve months later the merged entity assumed the name Hurtigruten ASA. Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab and the company founder, Richard With, pioneered the Norwegian Coastal Express in 1893, and Hurtigruten has continuously served the route since then. In 2012, the company headquarters was moved from

Narvik () is the third-largest List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Narvik (town), town of Narvik. Some of the notable villag ...

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

. In October 2014,

TDR Capital TDR Capital LLP is a British private equity firm headquartered in London, England. History TDR Capital was co-founded in 2002 by Manjit Dale, Stephen Robertson, and Tudor Capital.

purchased a majority ownership of Hurtigruten. In 2015, the legal form of Hurtigruten was changed from

ASA Asa may refer to: People and fictional characters * Asa (given name), a given name, including a list of people and fictional characters so named * Asa people, an ethnic group based in Tanzania * Aṣa, Nigerian-French singer, songwriter, and reco ...

to AS. In 2021, the international and the Norwegian branches of the company was separated operationally. In 2024, HX (Hurtigruten Expeditions) and Hurtigruten became completely separate as independent companies.

Operations

The Coastal Express

Hurtigruten is one of two operators sailing the original and iconic route of the Hurtigruten (literally "The Fast Route"), stopping at 34 ports from the southern city of

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

and the northeastern city of

Kirkenes (Norwegian language, Norwegian; ), (Northern Sami language, Northern Sami; , or is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Sør-Varanger Municipality in Finnmark county, in the far northeastern part of Norway. The town lies on a peninsu ...

. A total of 8 ships operate this route.

Signature

In addition to the Coastal Express, Hurtigruten also sails two Signature routes along the Norwegian coast: The North Cape Line and The Svalbard Line. These routes are currently operated by two ships: MS Trollfjord, which sails The Svalbard Line between Bergen and Longyearbyen in summer and The North Cape Line between Oslo and Honningvsåg in winter; and MS Finnmarken, which operates The North Cape Line from Hamburg to Honningsvåg. MS Midnatsol will join the fleet as a Signature ship from May 2026, sailing The Svalbard Line and The North Cape Line from Hamburg.

Tourism

The company also owns Hurtigruten Svalbard (formerly Spitsbergen Travel), a tour and hotel company based in Longyearbyen.

The Hurtigruten Museum

The Hurtigruten Museum is a

maritime museum A maritime museum (sometimes nautical museum) is a museum specializing in the display of objects relating to ships and travel on large bodies of water. A subcategory of maritime museums are naval museums, which focus on navy, navies and the m ...

located in the port city of

Stokmarknes or is a town and the administrative centre of Hadsel Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located on the northern coast of the island of Hadseløya and on the small, neighboring island of Børøya. The town has a population (2023) o ...

, Norway that showcases the history of Hurtigruten. The , retired from the coastal express and a

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...

now, is located within the Hurtigruten Museum.

Current fleet

As of 2024, Hurtigruten AS operates 10 ships in its fleet:

Former assets

Buses

Hurtigruten ASA owned 71.3% of the transportation company TIRB. The shares were sold to Boreal Transport Nord AS in July 2014 for 95.9 million

NOK Nok is a village in Jaba, Nigeria, Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The village is an archeological site. Archaeology The discovery of terracotta figurines at this location caused its name to be used for the Nok culture, ...

Car ferries

Hurtigruten AS operated a number of

roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, Trailer (vehicle), trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their ...

car ferries in

Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...

Troms Troms (; ; ; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. It borders Finnmark county to the northeast and Nordland county in the southwest. Norrbotten Län in Sweden is located to the south and further southeast is a shorter border with ...

Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...

and

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in the northernmost part of Western Norway, Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the Molde (town), town of M ...

Hotels

Hurtigruten AS owned two hotels in Bergen; Neptun Hotel and Strand Hotel. The hotels were sold to Bergen Hotel in 2008.

References

External links

official Hurtigruten'' website
— ''in English''.
official Hurtigruten'' website
— ''in Norwegian''. {{Authority control * Ferry companies of Norway Shipping companies of Norway Cruise lines Ferry companies of Nordland Ferry companies of Troms Companies based in Tromsø Companies established in 1866 1866 establishments in Norway Companies based in Narvik Companies formerly listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange Norwegian brands