Hurtigruten is confident it will exercise options on two more ships for exploring the polar regions in a move that would double an existing order.
"We'll see how the first two go, but the possibility is very strong because that's the direction the company is going," Americas chief executive William Harber told TradeWinds today while at Seatrade Cruise Global in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Several years ago, the company began cruising the Arctic and Antarctic regions with three ships able to handle up to 500 passengers, Harber said.
The company has voyaged the Arctic as part of its Norwegian coast cruising since its founding 125 years ago, now handled by 11 ships that can handle from 318 to 812 passengers, he said.
It now has an order for two 21,000-gt, 500-passenger explorer ships called Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen from Kleven Yards, as reported previously.
They will be the world's first two battery-powered hybrid ships when they hit the water next year.
Hurtigruten very much expects to order two more of the same ships as it looks to expand polar cruising, but it does not know when, Harber said.
"The next ones will be determined as to when," he said.
Hurtigruten is seeing increased demand for polar cruising because people nowadays want to see nature up close in places they thought they would never go, he said.
"They don't want to lay on the beach," he said. "They want to experience something new."
