Hurtigruten believes municipalities charge too much at public ports along the coast
For years, the company has been in conflict with many publicly owned ports. Hurtigruten sued, as just one example, Bodø port for what the shipping company thought was significant over-charging.
Hurtigruten won in the district court, but lost in Hålogaland County Court in April. Now the judgment has been appealed and taken to the Supreme Court.
The shipping company believes they have paid double birth hire every day throughout the year, while international cruise lines have received discounts of up to 75%.
Abandoning Tromsø
Now Hurtigruten will leave Tromsø harbour. Twelve kilometers from the city center, on Kvaløya, the shipping company has secured a large area, according to Klassekampen newspaper.
‘ We are considering doing the same in several ports. Either build our own, or cooperate with private port owners.
The private ports we call take half as much as the public ones. Prices are constantly forced upwards’, said Stein Lillebo, project manager in Hurtigruten AS, to Klassekampen.
Director of Tromsø Harbour, Halvar Pettersen, believes Hurtigruten already has a favorable price, and that they pay only 60%t of what boats of comparable size privately pay.
11 different ports
‘We are keen to have a good product at the right price. Hurtigruten accounts for 6%t of the turnover in Tromsø harbour. From the cruise industry, we often hear that we are the best port in the north’, he said.
Hurtigruten has a total of eleven ships and harbours at 34 different ports on its south and north-west routes.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today