Hurtigruten has run aground north of the Sognefjord – NRK Vestland

A fast route ship has grounded in Ytre Steinsund.

The main rescue center (HRS) was notified of the grounding at 09.05 on Friday morning.

– The ship reports that they are losing water. They assume that the ship has punched a hole in a ballast tank, says communications advisor at HRS, Anja Bakken.

Ballast tanks are filled with water and are used, among other things, to equalize weight differences in ships. The ground adds that the ship stands controlled and stable on an islet.

Trygve Hegnar tells TV2 that they probably know what the cause is.

– As far as we know, it is a technical error. It is this error that has made it difficult to maneuver and thus led to the ship running aground, says Hegnar to TV2.

Hegnar is chairman of the company Periscopus, which, together with two other companies belonging to Petter Stordalen, own Hurtigruten.

The ship was on its way to Bergen after a longer stay at the shipyard when the incident occurred.

There was a crew of 53 on board, in addition to 14 service personnel who did follow-up work after the shipyard stay.

They are now waiting for divers to assess what it looks like below the ship’s sea line.

Narve Andre Våge at DOF confirms that they have been asked to assist. The tug “Scandi Iceman” is now at the ship.

– We are ready to assist if needed, he says.

Have created a safety zone

Marie Lending arrived at the scene shortly after the grounding in a private small boat.

– We went out to see if there was anything we could do, or help with, and there the ship was on the other side of the strait, she tells NRK.

She says that it is not possible to see any damage to the hull, but that the coast guard and the ambulance are nearby. Several other private small boats are also said to have been at the site.

The police have now set up a safety zone around the Hurtigruten “Richard With” after the grounding.

– It is now not allowed to drive into the strait where the Hurtigruten is located, says operations manager Tom Johannesen in the West police district.

Police patrols from land and water have been sent to Solund to be able to receive evacuees from Hurtigruten if necessary.

– But there is no evacuation planned as of now, says Bakken at HRS.

– Serious when a large ship runs aground

According to Anja Bakken at HRS, no one should be injured.

– But it is clear that it is serious when a large ship runs aground, says Bakken.

– The sea is falling, it doesn’t help, says operations manager Tom Johannessen in the West police district to Bergens Tidende.

TV 2 and Bergens Tidende first reported on the incident.

The police were notified by the main rescue center at 09.17.

The head of the postal boat in the area, Hans Emil Gåsvær, tells TV 2 that this is a narrow strait where groundings are not unusual.

– It’s a very narrow race there. There may be currents, but it is difficult to speculate, he says.

The ship sailed in a circle south of Ålesund

The Hurtigruten ship has recently been at Myklebust shipyard for conversion to battery operation.

Hurtigruten AS has an agreement with Kongsberg Maritime to upgrade three Hurtigruten ships to hybrid propulsion. According to the plan, MS “Richard With” should be back in normal operation on 9 August, writes Skipsrevyen.

The NAIS service shows that the ship sailed in a circle in the Vartdalsfjord yesterday evening, on the occasion of a trial trip to test the functions after the shipyard stay.

The service also shows that it lost speed at 09:01 today.

The ship “Richard With” is named after Hurtigruten’s founder. The ship was built in 1993 and has a capacity of 590 passengers.

In 2009, the ship had a longer stay at the workshop after a grounding in Trondheim. At the time, 153 passengers had to be evacuated.

According to the tracking service MarineTraffic the ship was on its way from Hareid on Sunnmøre to Bergen.