Havila Kystruten decided that only cars and motor vehicles that use fossil fuel can be transported on board the company’s ships, in selected ports along the coastal route. This means that electric, hybrid and hydrogen cars cannot be transported on board.
According to CEO of Havila Kystruten, Bent Martini, the company reached this decision after a “pure safety assessment, and the conclusion of the risk analysis shows that a possible fire in fossil vehicles will be able to be handled by the systems and the crew we have on board.”
As Bent Martini explained:
A possible fire in electric, hybrid or hydrogen cars will require external rescue efforts and could put people on board and the ships at risk. We take safety seriously, and this is naturally a risk we are under no circumstances willing to take
However, Havila Kystruten will continue to work on finding good solutions that can minimize the risk of transporting this type of vehicle in the future.
Havila’s ships are built with their own battery packs, and they are installed in accordance with current requirements for fire safety on ships. This means that its batteries are separated into isolated and fireproof rooms, with specific fire protection systems.
Furthermore, the company has decided that it will only be carried out on boarding and disembarking of private vehicles in Bergen and Kirkenes, with the exception of service vehicles for personnel who do necessary work on board the company’s ships and emergency vehicles. This also assumes that these are pure fossil cars.
There is limited capacity for vehicles on board, based on the need for space in the hold for the contractual carriage of other cargo. Testing during the past year also shows that we are experiencing challenges in some ports based on variations in the tide
Martini added.
