Tersan Shipyard announced the successful delivery of the Havila Polaris and the Havila Pollux ships, built for Havila Kystruten of Norway.

“It is a fantastic day for us to celebrate the deliveries of the beautiful coastal passenger ships to Havila Kystruten. Despite challenges for both us and Havila Kystruten during the construction process of these impressive ships, we are very happy today to have delivered four marvelous ships to Havila Kystruten,” said Osman Nurettin Paksu, chairman of the Board of Tersan Shipyard.

“These are the most modern and environmentally friendly ships on the Norwegian coastal route, and we are proud that these four sister ships carry the name of Tersan Shipyard along the beautiful Norwegian coast. We also thank Havila Kystruten and its cooperative representatives for their support and efforts who made these deliveries possible, it has been a pleasure working with them.”

Delivered on August 1, 2023, the shipyard overcame the pandemic in the construction process,, which caused delays in equipment deliveries and a lack of human resources due to strict COVID-19 regulations.

In addition to these challenges, the ships’ financing was also affected by the sanctions imposed on Havila’s Russian-origin finance provider due to the Russia-Ukraine war.

Tersan Shipyard worked with Havila to find a solution to complete construction despite the challenges. Thanks to the efforts of every stakeholder in the shipyard, from steelworkers to the top management, Tersan managed to reach a milestone and deliver the third and fourth ships successfully, the yard said in a statement.

The new Havila Pollux and Havila Polaris will operate  Norway’s Bergen – Kirkenes coastal route. With a combination of the 86-ton battery packs and liquefied natural gas (LNG), each ship reduces CO2 emissions by up to 35 percent and local emissions (NOx and SOx) by 90 percent compared to ships running on traditional fossil fuels.

“We want to thank Tersan Shipyard for their excellent cooperation and great understanding of our challenges over the last few years. They have built four fantastic ships, and without them, as well as other suppliers and partners, we would not be standing here today,” said Bent Martini, CEO of Havila Kystruten.