Continuing to push the boundaries of green travel, Hurtigruten Expeditions resumed expedition cruising with the introduction of its third battery-hybrid-powered cruise ship, MS Otto Sverdrup, which set sail from Hamburg to the Norwegian coast on August 24. The ship’s inaugural voyage marks one of the first year-round expedition cruises from Germany.
Equipped with battery backs and other green technology, MS Otto Sverdrup joins MS Roald Amundsen and MS Fridtjof Nansen as Hurtigruten’s third battery-hybrid powered cruise ships.
“We saw the travel industry’s global pause as a golden opportunity to invest, upgrade and improve our ships and product. As we return to cruising, MS Otto Sverdrup will feature a combination of advanced green technology, including new battery packs, that will ensure an even more sustainable way of exploring the Norwegian coast,” said Hurtigruten Expeditions CEO Asta Lassesen in a press release.
MS Otto Sverdrup’s inaugural voyage from Germany is the first sailing in the step-by-step restart of operations for Hurtigruten. The line recently added West Africa—including Bissagos Islands and Cape Verde—to its growing list of destinations from 2022. Expedition cruises to the Galapagos Islands has also been introduced as part of Hurtigruten’s global offering. Besides, MS Maud will begin the first ever year-round U.K.-based expedition cruises in late September.
Apart from the closer-to-home departures from Hamburg and Dover, Hurtigruten’s 2022/2023 winter program also includes Antarctica, West Africa and Alaska, and from January 2022, the Galapagos Islands.
Hurtigruten, which began expedition cruising in 1896, has a growing fleet of smaller, more sustainable expedition ships, which take guests to more than 250 destinations.
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