The case in summary Nordland is experiencing ferry chaos with technical problems and a lack of crew. The local population, businesses and politicians express frustration at the situation. The ferry problems affect, among other things, salmon farmers in Herøy, who now choose to sail the salmon to Trøndelag for slaughter instead of locally. County councilor for transport in Nordland, Marianne Dobak Kvensjø, expresses that the situation is not good enough and that shipping companies that fail to carry out planned departures can expect fines. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. The vast majority of us Norwegians will spend at least part of the holiday in Norway this year. And as usual, many people look north when planning their Norway holiday. To get to the most popular places, such as Lofoten, Helgeland or around Western Norway, you will probably have to take a ferry trip or two. But then you also have to worry about delays and canceled ferries. This particularly applies to the ferry county of Nordland. Although the public holidays have not started yet, the season has not started optimally. Just listen to this: On Nesna – Levang (county road 17) the main ferry was hit by a cargo ship a couple of weeks ago. Now the reserve ferry is also out of service due to technical problems. A shuttle boat, which only takes passengers and not cars, has been deployed temporarily. On the E6 connection Bogenes – Skarberget, route C is out of service due to technical problems. On Sandnessjøen – Dønna – Løkta, the A route (the largest boat) has been out of service since Wednesday. The shipping company lacks an engineer, the ferry will not leave again until Friday morning. There are also reports of long ferry queues on many connections in Nordland. – We have warned of chaos, and that chaos is not too far away now, says mayor of Herøy, Elbjørg Larsen (Ap). The municipality with just under 1,500 inhabitants is completely dependent on the ferry to reach the mainland. And with reduced capacity on the “sister connection” between Sandnessjøen and Dønna, there will be even more pressure on Herøy. Settings lead to bottlenecks on several connections in Outer Helgeland. – It is clear that there will be major consequences if you do not have the capacity to handle this traffic, says the mayor. The shipping companies are also frustrated. The Norled ferry Vikingen is located in the harbor basin in Sandnessjøen, side by side with the Boreal ferry Møysalen. Photo: Kari-Ann Dragland Stangen / Helgelands Blad – Shortage of crew everywhere Because in addition to increased traffic on the ferries, they are struggling to get both crew and equipment in place. On Wednesday at 11:40 the machinist on the car ferry MF “Vikingen” left his shift. Now the ferry company has canceled all departures until Monday, simply because they have no one to take over. – We are working very actively to get hold of a machinist. We have turned over all stones and now we have started again at the top of the list, says Wenche Lidven, who is operations manager at the shipping company Norled. And the challenges don’t just apply to them. – There is a lack of manpower everywhere, not just here, she says. As long as they are unable to fill up empty positions, the problem will continue. At the same time, many visitors to Nordland and Northern Norway are expected this summer. Tourists who want to explore the region by road and ferries. – The tourists who come must experience that they too get over and do not have to stand in a ferry queue for many hours. It is also an industry that we want to grow here in Helgeland. But it is not only the tourists who feel the ferry problems. The local business community is also starting to have enough. Elbjørg Larsen, mayor of Herøy (Ap), is frustrated about the ferry situation. Photo: Sofie Retterstøl Olaisen / news Looking for solutions Herøy has several salmon farmers, and Mowi has a large slaughterhouse here. Every day, 25–30 truck trains drive in and out of the municipality with salmon. But the ferry problems have meant that two farmers would rather sail with the salmon to a slaughterhouse in Trøndelag instead of slaughtering locally on Herøy. – There has been a large increase in ferry traffic for several years, now it has come so far that it is just before it collapses for the business world, says Mayor Larsen. The Swedish Road Administration: Here the most traffic is expected The road traffic centers point to these areas and stretches as particularly prone to queues and delays this summer (these are examples, not an exhaustive list): Northern Norway: It is expected that many people will travel to Lofoten this summer , especially if the weather is nice. In Nordland as a whole, the ferries will probably become the biggest bottleneck, not only in Lofoten, but also along the Kystriksveien (formerly 17 Steinkjer-Bodø). Central Norway: No special challenges are expected in summer traffic. Western Norway: A lot of traffic is generally expected in the area. Especially rv. 13 on the stretch Bu–Kyrkjenes in Hardanger is subject to queues and delays in the summer. Sørlandet, Vestfold and Telemark: A lot of traffic is expected on the E18 between Lier in Buskerud and Sørlandet, especially on the typical departure and return days. The section Rugtvedtkrysset–Langangenkrysset is particularly prone to traffic jams, due to roadworks. Eastern Norway: A lot of holiday traffic is expected, and it tends to concentrate during the day/afternoon and peaks on Fridays towards the weekends. The stretches where we expect the most traffic are E18 Oslo–Drammen–Porsgrunn, E6 Oslo–Lillehammer–Dovre, E6 Oslo–Svinesund, E18 Vinterbro–Ørje, E16 Sandvika–Sollihøgda–Hønefoss, E16 Kløfta–Kongsvinger–Skotterud and rv. 22 Lillestrøm–Fet–Mysen. Those who commute to their place of work have requested a commuter pass to be allowed to travel when they need to. – They are in despair and wonder how to do something about it, says the mayor of Herøy. She says that if they do not get a scheme with a commuter card, then increased capacity is the solution. But at the same time as there is a need for increased capacity on the ferry connections, there are indications that the introduction of free ferries amplifies the challenges. A consequence of free ferries? Two years ago, the government introduced free ferries on a selection of ferry connections. Even then, people along the coast feared that there would be chaos on the ferry quays if even more people were to travel by ferry. But the offer was nevertheless extended to apply to even more people. In Nordland, 20 of the county’s 23 connections have become free. Although the measure has been hailed by commuters, a clear increase in traffic is noticeable. – As a coastal man, it is difficult to be critical of free ferries, but such a move has consequences, says Stig Tore Skogsholm. He is group leader of the Conservative Party’s county council group. This week, he published a longer post on his Facebook account, where he despaired of the situation one has now found himself in. “There is a difference between being left for a ride and having to wait half an hour, and standing all day, or until and overnight, in a forsaken place without so much as a coffee machine. And there is a difference between motorhome tourists staying and enjoying nature and important commercial traffic standing and snarling in queues,” he writes in the post. There was sunshine, cheers and Norwegian flags when the government introduced free ferries in 2022. Now several ferry communities notice that not everything is going as it should. Photo: Lars-Petter Kalkenberg / news Although the Conservative Party has been opposed to the ferries being completely free, Skogsholm is a supporter of the scheme. – For parts of the year, it works fine. Those people who take the ferry daily, and who have got a much cheaper everyday life, for them it works very well. But when the peaks come in the summer, the local population and the business community should be given the right of way on the ferries, he believes. – The wagon trains with salmon must run on the same leases as the tourists, who have plenty of time. In addition, you have other businesses and commuters fighting for the same places on the ferry, says Skogsholm. That is why he believes that the government, led by Ap and Sp, should have given more money to the counties when they introduced the free ferries. County councilor for transport in Nordland, Marianne Dobak Kvensjø (H) admits that the summer has not started as they had hoped. Will avoid the label “ferry chaos” – We would have liked a better start to the summer, because we have longer queues than we would like and we have had some technical challenges, says Kvensjø. She would rather let Northern Norway once again get the label “ferry chaos” attached to it. – It is not a reputation we want with the tourists, that they stand in the holiday queue. Then we also look at the frustration experienced by permanent residents and businesses. This is how Nordland county council will deal with the ferry chaos County council for transport in Nordland, Marianne Dobak Kvensjø (H) says that the county council will follow up on the contracts they have entered into with the shipping companies to ensure that they deliver what they have promised. – I expect that they will be able to man the ferries in accordance with the contracts we have, and that they will be ready in case of sick calls and when crews go on holiday. – Have strict enough requirements been set for the shipping companies in the contracts with regard to staffing, reserve ferries and so on? – We have a number of connections that are on longer contracts. But this county council has been keen to set stricter requirements for reserve ferries, so that you get a better flow throughout the year and take the peaks off in the summer. The county council says that shipping companies that fail to carry out scheduled departures will be fined. – Should the fines have been higher? – The fines we have now are fixed in the contract, but we are looking at whether we should make changes when we enter into new contracts. – Is it good enough when the shipping companies say they can’t get hold of people and thus the ferry doesn’t run? – No, it’s not good enough. Marianne Dobak Kvensjø (H) is the county councilor for transport in Nordland, and is not satisfied with the state of things either. Photo: Kåre Riibe Ramskjell Published 27.06.2024, at 19.04
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– It heralded chaos – news Nordland
