Норвегияның жағалау маршруты: Берген – Киркенес

Norwegian public coastal route
the route along the coast of Norway

Hurtigruten , formally Kystruten Bergen Kirkenes ("coastal route Bergen Kirkenes"), is a Norwegian public coastal route transporting passengers that travel locally, regionally and between the ports of call, and also cargo between ports north of Tromsø. Hurtigruten provides daily, year round and consistent traffic between Bergen and Kirkenes with 34 ports of call on northbound and 33 ports of call on southbound sailings. The Ministry of Transport and Communications in Norway has set minimum capacity requirements of 320 passengers, 120 berths and cargo for 150 Euro pallets. The current agreement with the privately held company Hurtigruten AS entered into force on 1 January 2012 and expired on 31 December 2019, with an optional 1 year extension. From 2021 the two companies Hurtigruten AS and Havila Kystruten AS will operate the route. As of April 2022, one of the ships of Havila Kystruten, MS Havila Capella, was taken out of service; because of sanctions as a result of the 2022 Invasion of Ukraine, the ship no longer had insurance; "the 4 ships of" the company were at that time financed by a Russian company. As of March 2023, Havila Kystruten has 2 out of 4 ships in operation, Havila Capella and Havila Castor. Havila Polaris and Havila Pollux is expected to be delivered before summer 2023.

Hurtigruten was established in 1893 by government contract to improve communications along Norway's long, jagged coastline. began the first round trip journey from Trondheim on 2 July 1893 bound for Hammerfest, with calls at Rørvik, Brønnøy, Sandnessjøen, Bodø, Svolvær, Lødingen, Harstad, Tromsø and Skjervøy. The ship arrived at Svolvær on Monday 3 July at 8pm after 35½ hours and at Hammerfest on Wednesday 5 July after 67 hours. She was commanded by founder of the route Richard With. At that time this was the fastest route between northern and southern Norway, and this resulted in the route being named Hurtigruten (express route). As of 2008, the Trondheim–Svolvær trip took 33 hours and the Trondheim–Hammerfest trip took 41 hours 15 min. Before Hurtigruten opened, only Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab was willing to make the trip through the then poorly charted waters; the voyage was especially difficult during the long, dark winters. The company had for itself made detailed sailing instructions. Hurtigruten was a substantial breakthrough for communities along its path. Mail from central Norway to Hammerfest, which used to take three weeks in summer and five months in winter, could now be delivered in seven days. In addition to the voyages in Norway, the company operates expedition cruises to Greenland, Canada, South America, Iceland, Svalbard and Antarctica.

As part of its slow television series, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation transmitted non stop the Hurtigruten ship 's 134 hour voyage from Bergen to Kirkenes, which started on June 16, 2011.

Before World War II, a number of ships perished, usually because they ran aground in bad visibility. Most of the Hurtigruten fleet was sunk during World War II. In September 1954 ran aground in Raftsundet at night. The ship started taking on water and eventually sank. Of the 157 passengers and 46 crew members on board, five died. On January 8, 1958, a fire broke out on board MS Erling Jarl while the vessel was docked at Bodø. Fourteen people died of smoke inhalation. Today a memorial to the incident stands at Bodø. On October 21, 1962 MS Sanct Svithun ran onto a reef in the maritime area Folda in Nord Trøndelag because of a major navigational error after leaving Trondheim. Of 89 persons on board (passengers, crew and two postal officers) 41 died. In 2011 suffered an engine room fire, leading to two deaths among the crew.