– We have not seen this on other stretches. We have seen that departures have been cancelled, but not to such a large extent as here, says project manager Dag Hole in the Norwegian Public Roads Administration. They are responsible for the operation of the ferries on the national road network. Until now in July, Torghatten Nord has canceled 82 of the ferry departures on the connection between Bognes and Lødingen in Nordland. It is the busiest ferry connection in Northern Norway. This is what it looked like at the ferry terminal in Lødingen last July. Then bad weather scared many motorists south. It is on this stretch that most people travel when going to or from Vesterålen. It usually takes 1.5 hours by ferry across the inner part of the Vestfjord, but for some the alternative has been to drive around Narvik. This makes the journey almost two hours longer, if the other ferries run. But these have also been canceled due to a lack of people. This means that the E6 between Bognes and Skarberget has been closed for up to a couple of hours at a time. The connection between Drag and Kjøpsvik has also been suspended for up to 11 hours. According to Torghatten Nord, the main reason is a lack of seafarers. In recent days there has been a lot of traffic, long queues and cars that are left on the ferry quays. – Could Torghatten have been planned better? Project manager Dag Hole in the Norwegian Public Roads Administration says they are following the traffic and will provide continuous information about what is happening in the traffic. Photo: Roar Strøm / news – The simple answer is yes, they could have hired more crew. But the more comprehensive and precise answer is that shipping companies compete for crew in a market with, for example, the oil industry, says project manager Dag Hole in the Norwegian Road Administration. Critical to the ferry company – It is a big challenge with a lack of people in many places, but that is no excuse for not keeping such an important connection going, says Bård Ludvig Thorheim. Both Bladet Vesterålen and Vol.no have discussed the problems on what is the main access road to Vesterålen. Storting representative Bård Ludvig Thorheim believes it is unsustainable that ferry departures are canceled due to crew shortages. Photo: Benjamin Fredriksen / news The parliamentary representative from the Conservative Party believes it is unsustainable that Torghatten Nord is unable to keep the busiest ferry service in the north running. – I will raise this in the Storting if there is no improvement. – But they can’t conjure up helmsmen and sailors, can they? – No, but you know that there will be a rush in the summer and then you have to prepare well for it, and other industries have also done that. But the managing director of Torghatten Nord, Torkild Torkildsen, says they start early with the planning, but that this year it has been extremely difficult to get hold of seafarers. The reason is that there are many people who want to employ the same people. – Much of what we are troubled by now is the typical tourist connections, where there is a lot of pressure in the summer. In the summer, many holiday further north. Here is a long ferry queue from Forvik to Tjøtta in 2020. In recent years, there have been queues several kilometers long on the ferry connections in the north. This year, an extra number of departures have been set up to avoid the summer traffic. At Torghatten Nord, they are working hard to ensure that travelers do not have to wait long. – We have a lot of great sailors who have moved on holidays and interrupted their holidays to help out. There are also pensioners who are in and serving, says Torkildsen. CEO of Torghatten Nord, Torkild Torkildsen, says they are struggling to get enough people. Photo: Amalie Nygård Jakobsen / news Still, it is not enough. – I am afraid that we will also be bothered beyond August, says CEO of Torghatten Nord, Torkild Torkildsen.
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– Will not get better anytime soon – news Nordland
