Zero emissions from fast boats by 2025 and the same for ferries as soon as possible. That is the proposal the Ministry of Transport and Communications is putting forward today. – It is a very effective tool, says Transport Minister from the Labor Party, Jon-Ivar Nygård. Around 200 ferries and 80 speedboats run back and forth along the coast of Norway. Annually, they release respectively 580,000 tonnes and 130,000 tonnes of CO₂. That is according to a report the Directorate for Administration and Financial Management (DFØ) has prepared on behalf of the Ministry of Climate and the Environment. The government now wants to eliminate these emissions within a few years, but so far only one speedboat in Norway is emission-free. According to think tank Norsk Klimastifting, less than a quarter of the ferries in Norway are electric today. My demands will drive the technology Climate and Environment Minister Espen Barth Eide, also from the Labor Party, believes that a demand for emission-free ferries and fast boats will speed up development. – We know that public procurement – when we make demands on them – contributes to technology development. This means that these solutions come faster and are better, says Eide. He believes that a requirement from the government will be necessary for a green shift in the sector. – Using the muscle that is public procurement is a very important part of climate policy, and I am very happy that we are getting these requirements out now. Dropped electric ferries last year Many ferries, especially along the shorter crossings in the west, are already electric, and have been for years. Some longer transitions, such as in Nordland, run on gas. When Trøndelag was to put eight ferry routes out to tender in autumn 2022, they had to drop the requirement for electric ferries. It was simply too expensive without financial support from the state, said the county politicians. The Minister for Transport promises that there will be compensation from the state with the new requirements they are proposing. Nevertheless, he believes that electric ferries, for example, are already competitive in some places. – It is not a given that you will incur additional costs, but the Government is determined to compensate for additional expenses, and we will of course follow up on that in the upcoming state budget, says Nygård. First electric speedboat in operation Speedboats have long been climate disasters. If you measure the emissions that come from transporting a passenger one kilometer, a TØI and CICERO report from 2014 found that high-speed boats had far greater emissions than several other means of travel: In the spring of 2022, the world’s first electric high-speed boat, the Medstraum, was seen in operations in Stavanger. It cost NOK 110 million to build, and the EU sponsored half of it to get the project to the finish line. In the beginning, the boat struggled to make trips on an ordinary route. Among other things, the boat was strewn with seaweed and kelp in the harbor basin in Stavanger.
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Will require zero emissions for speedboats within two years
