Norway’s Hurtigruten fleet, which operates coastal cruisers as well as a variety of ferries in the fjords and up to the Arctic, is about to spend over $800 million to retrofit its ships to reduce carbon pollution.
Six older ships will soon be retrofitted with new leaner engines that can run on a combination of liquefied natural gas, batteries and liquefied bio gas, or LBG. That’s where the rotten fist part comes in.
Hurtigruten CEO Daniel Skjeldam told Reuters that “We are talking about an energy source (LBG) from organic waste, which would otherwise have gone up in the air. This is waste material from dead fish, from agriculture and forestry.”
All of the company’s 17 ships will be adapted to cleaner operation over the next three years, and new-build vessels will be primarily electric, with a diesel engine only as backup. International regulations now call for a cut in carbon dioxide emissions of 50% by 2050 over 2008 levels.
