Hurtigruten has reported one of its best annual results, logging a pre-tax profit of NOK 54m ($6.3m) in 2018 against a NOK 507m loss a year earlier.
The company, which delisted from the Oslo Stock Exchange in 2015, reported revenue of NOK 5.4bn last year, up from NOK 4.9bn in 2017.
The privately owned Norwegian cruise and ferry company earns money both on subsidised coastal operations, carrying passengers from Kirkenes to Bergen, and on tourist routes along the Norwegian coast and to Spitsbergen and Antarctica.
Hurtigruten this year took delivery delivery of the 20,900-gt Roald Amundsen (built 2019), the first of two expedition cruiseships from Norway's Kleven shipyard. Next year, Kleven will hand over sistership Fridtjof Nansen.
The ships have a capacity of 530 passengers each and are the first cruiseships to use an hybrid elecric propulsion system a combination of battery and fuel power. The ships have a price tag of $130m each.
Hurtigruten has signed a memorandum of understanding with Kleven for a third sistership to be delivered in 2021.
The company is controlled by the investment fund TDR Capital. Trygve Hegnar, the owner of the finance daily Finansavisen, is chairman and holds a 4.91% stake of the shares in the shipowner.
