Norwegian Cruise Ship Company Says Electricity and Water Don’t Mix

Passengers seeking space for their electric vehicles on vessels operated by Havila Voyages out of Norway are about to find themselves left ashore. The company is taking the advice of a risk analysis firm and refusing to board any electric, hybrid, or hydrogen vehicles on its ships.

To be clear – in spite of what is being suggested by some other outlets – Havila is primarily a cruise ship company, not a huge shipping corporation that floats jumbo vessels like the ill-fated Felicity Ace. There is inherently little space for vehicles, regardless of propulsion method, and they are treated more as cargo than they would be on a traditional roll-on/roll-off ferry. Havila describes these ships as providing ‘coastal voyages’, some of which are up to 12 days in length.

Still, anyone who grew up in a rural seaside town (*raises hand*) knows there is an unwritten expectation that any ship the size of these will reserve at least part of its cargo hold for shipping life’s necessities to far-flung frozen towns – even if official agreements with the Ministry of Transport do not decree this requirement. But many do, being good stewards of the community and all that tripe. Sometimes the cargo includes vehicles, a part of the balance sheet which has apparently frightened the tar out of risk assessment managers and caused the banning of EVs and their ilk for fear of fires that would be difficult to extinguish. 

These are valid concerns, to be sure, especially given the suspected reason for the loss of the Felicity Ace mentioned earlier. Even internal combustion cars don’t rank too high on Havila’s top-40 as cargo, with the company reducing to just two the number of ports at which it will offload vehicles, citing tidal considerations and the like.

There is an uncomfortable realization that Havila’s own ships deploy enormous battery packs in their daily plying of the seas, but company spox say those elements of vessel propulsion are safely encased in separate rooms which have special fire suppressors which may not be available elsewhere on the boat.

Remember these facts when, inevitably, your Uncle Walt shares a fake news story on Facebook with a breathless headline shouting ‘SHIPPING COMPANIES WON’T BRING ELECTRIC CARS HERE ANYMORE’ or ‘YOU CAN’T PUT AN EV ON A FERRY NOW’. Speaking quickly to the latter, a German-based company has installed EV chargers on several of its vessels serving a number of routes.

[Images: Havila]

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