Hirtshals is a town and seaport on the coast of Skagerrak on the island of Vendsyssel-Thy at the top of the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark, Europe. It is located in Hjørring municipality in Region Nordjylland. The town of Hirtshals has a population of 5,538. Located on the Skagerrak, it is especially known for its fishing and ferry harbours.
S-class ferries are roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ferries operated by BC Ferries in British Columbia, Canada. They are the largest ferries in the BC Ferries fleet. The class comprises two ships, Spirit of British Columbia and Spirit of Vancouver Island, which were completed in 1993 and 1994 respectively. They serve the ferry route between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay. In 2017, the class underwent conversion to a dual-fuel propulsion system that would allow them to use either marine diesel fuel or liquefied natural gas.
MS Bahamas Celebration was a midsize cruise ship formerly operated by Celebration Cruise Line. Between March 2009 and October 2014, she operated two- and three-day cruises from Port Everglades to the Bahamas. In March 2010 she started operating two-day cruises from the Port of Palm Beach.
HSC Skane Jet is an Incat-built, ocean-going catamaran. It is one of the world's fastest car carrying passenger vessels and, as Cat-Link V, set the eastbound record for the fastest transatlantic journey. In 1998/1999, the ship sailed as Cat-Link V on the Århus-Kalundborg route in Denmark—then operated by Scandlines. From 1999 to 2005 it sailed as Mads Mols for Mols-linien. From 2005 to 2006 it was renamed Incat 049 by T&T Ferries in Trinidad and Tobago. In 2006 it was renamed Master Cat and has since been operating on the route between Kristiansand in Norway and Hanstholm in Denmark, later changed to Hirtshals, in the service of "Master Ferries". This company was merged with Fjord Line on 1 January 2008 and the ferry was renamed Fjord Cat.
DFDS Seaways is a Danish shipping company that operates passenger and freight services across northern Europe. Following the acquisition of Norfolkline in 2010, DFDS restructured its other shipping divisions into the previously passenger-only operation of DFDS Seaways.
Marine propulsion is the mechanism or system used to generate thrust to move a watercraft through water. While paddles and sails are still used on some smaller boats, most modern ships are propelled by mechanical systems consisting of an electric motor or internal combustion engine driving a propeller, or less frequently, in pump-jets, an impeller. Marine engineering is the discipline concerned with the engineering design process of marine propulsion systems.
An LNG carrier is a tank ship designed for transporting liquefied natural gas (LNG).
A hydrogen ship is a hydrogen fueled ship, power-assisted by an electric motor that gets its electricity from a fuel cell. Or uses hydrogen fuel in an internal combustion engine.
MS Superspeed 1 is a fast ro-pax ferry owned and operated by Color Line. She was built by Aker Finnyards, Rauma, Finland in 2008, and entered service on the Kristiansand—Hirtshals route on 13 March 2008.
MV Spirit of British Columbia is an S-class ferry, part of the BC Ferries fleet active along the British Columbia coast. It and Spirit of Vancouver Island represent the two largest ships in the fleet. The ship was completed in 1993 and serves the Tsawwassen–Swartz Bay route. In 2018, it underwent a mid-life refit that included conversion to a dual-fuel system that allows it to use either marine diesel oil or liquefied natural gas.
Fjord Line is a Norwegian ferry operator offering services between Norway and Denmark; in October 2020 the company announced a scale-back of operations whereby the ferry operations will only serve the ports of Kristiansand, Hirtshals, and Stavanger.
Integrated electric propulsion (IEP) or full electric propulsion (FEP) or integrated full electric propulsion (IFEP) is an arrangement of marine propulsion systems such that gas turbines or diesel generators or both generate three-phase electricity which is then used to power electric motors turning either propellers or waterjet impellors. It is a modification of the combined diesel-electric and gas propulsion system for ships which eliminates the need for clutches and reduces or eliminates the need for gearboxes by using electrical transmission rather than mechanical transmission of energy, so it is a series hybrid electric propulsion, instead of parallel.
MS Bergensfjord is a cruise ferry owned and operated by the Norwegian ferry operator, Fjord Line who use her on their Hirtshals - Langesund route. The ship was ordered in March 2010, launched in March 2013 and then delivered to Fjord Line on 3 February 2014, Bergensfjord is the sister of the 2013 built Stavangerfjord. Like her sister, she ran exclusively on liquefied natural gas from 2013 to 2022, when the 2021–2023 global energy crisis increased LNG price to uneconomic levels, and Fjord decided to replace the LNG-only engines with dual-fuel engines.
A marine LNG engine is a dual fuel engine that uses natural gas and bunker fuel to convert chemical energy in to mechanical energy. Due to natural gas’ cleaner burning properties, the use of natural gas in merchant ship propulsion plants is becoming an option for companies in order to comply with IMO and MARPOL environmental regulations. The natural gas is stored in liquid state (LNG) and the boil-off gas is routed to and burned in dual fuel engines. Shipping companies have been cautious when choosing a propulsion system for their fleets. The steam turbine system has been the main choice as the prime mover on LNG carriers over the last several decades. The decades-old system on steam propelled LNG carriers uses BOG. LNG carriers are heavily insulated to keep the LNG at around -160 °C – to keep it liquefied. Despite insulation, the LNG containment area is penetrated by heat which allows for naturally generated boil-off gas (BOG).
MS Megastar is a fast ro-ro/passenger (ro-pax) ferry built by the Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland, for the Estonian shipping company Tallink. The 230 million euro vessel is the first ship in Tallink's fleet to use liquefied natural gas (LNG) as fuel.
MS Iona is an Excellence-class cruise ship in service for P&O Cruises, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. Built by German shipbuilder Meyer Werft in Papenburg, she was delivered in October 2020 at a cost of £730 million. At 184,089 GT, Iona became the largest cruise ship commissioned for P&O and the British market upon delivery until sister ship Arvia was delivered in 2022. Iona was floated out on 18 February 2020 and delivered eight months later on 9 October amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which delayed her debut by more than a year until 7 August 2021, when she sailed her maiden voyage from Southampton.
The E-Flexer is a class of Chinese-built Ro-Pax ferries ordered by Stena RoRo for European line service. Twelve vessels of the class are on order, and upon delivery will be operated by Stena Line, Brittany Ferries, DFDS Seaways and Marine Atlantic. Stena Line are to take five vessels of the class, Brittany Ferries five, and a single vessel each to DFDS and Marine Atlantic, of which the latter's vessel will also be hybrid electric. All of the vessels will be delivered to Stena RoRo with the Stena Line vessels transferred to that company and the Brittany Ferries, DFDS and Marine Atlantic examples long-term chartered to those operators, with an option to purchase at the end of the charter.
Costa Smeralda is an Excellence-class cruise ship currently operated by Costa Cruises, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. At 185,010 gross tonnage (GT), she is the largest ship commissioned for and to ever operate for Costa, and is the sixth-largest cruise ship in the world, as of 2019. Costa Smeralda is also the second cruise ship in the world to be fully powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG), making Costa the second cruise line to operate a ship running on LNG, after sister brand, AIDA Cruises, became the first in 2018. Costa Smeralda is set to have a sister ship, Costa Toscana, that is scheduled for delivery in 2021. Her inaugural cruise sailed on 21 December 2019.
Siem Shipping is a Norwegian shipping company based in Kristiansand, specialized in reefer, bulk and roll-on/roll-off sea carriage.
SSCV Sleipnir is a semi-submersible crane vessel (SSCV) owned and operated by Heerema Marine Contractors. It is named for Sleipnir, the eight-legged horse ridden by Odin in Norse mythology. The vessel is equipped with two revolving cranes built by Huisman Equipment B.V., each with a capacity of 10,000 t ; the main cranes can be operated in tandem to jointly lift 20,000 t. It was ordered in 2015 and built in Singapore by Sembcorp Marine. After its completion in 2019, SSCV Sleipnir succeeded Heerema's earlier SSCV Thialf as the largest crane vessel in the world.
