Norled welcomes MS “Frey” to the fleet

Norled has today taken delivery of the hybrid battery-electric vessel from Oma Baatbyggeri at Stord. The vessel will run mainly on battery power when it enters service in Sogn next year.

Norled has today taken delivery of the hybrid battery-electric vessel from Oma Baatbyggeri at Stord. The vessel will run mainly on battery power when it enters service in Sogn next year.

-“It’s a great boat that, together with the sister vessels to be built, will help to reduce emissions considerably. We have had a good collaboration with Oma Baatbyggeri and the vessel has been delivered on schedule,” says Norled’s technical director, Erlend Hovland.

MS “Frey” is one of three new low-emission vessels that will operate in the Florø basin from May 1, 2024. The vessel has a modern and universal design with a large saloon and large windows. MS “Frey” has room for 72 passengers, as well as 7 passenger cars or a road train. The 30-meter-long vessel also has a cargo hold and crane.

The vessel is based on Oma’s combi catamaran concept, but unlike previous vessels, MS “Frey” comes with a hybrid battery-electric propulsion system. This allows the vessel to operate with zero CO2 emissions and 100% electric operation in most of the routes it will operate in Sogn. Vestland County Council and Skyss have been at the forefront of environmental requirements for express boats, with the aim of both cutting greenhouse gas emissions and stimulating innovation.

The vessel is built in seawater-resistant aluminum; a building material that is 100% recyclable. The strong but lightweight construction material is beneficial when building express boats. As the boats are lightweight, they are equipped with ballast tanks to offset the weight of loading and unloading heavy road trains.

In May, the sister vessel to MS “Frey” will be delivered from Oma Baatbyggeri to Norled. This, too, will go into service in Sogn. These are two of three vessels being built for Sogn route package 2, which Norled won in 2021. The tender from Skyss concerns express boats operations in Sogn and Fjordane from 2024-2036.

Facts:

MS “Frey”

Length: 30 meters

Capacity: 72 passengers. 7 passenger cars or 1 road train.

Propulsion: hybrid: battery-electric or diesel-electric

Service speed: 22 knots

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