The largest ferry operator in Norway have 22 new battery plug-in ferries in order (3 now delivered) Some will be built and completed in Turkey and some will have their hulls built in Poland and be fitted out a yards in Norway. All will have largely Norwegian designed and made equipment: https://www.passengership.info/news/view,fjord1-speeds-ahead-with-new-technology_52053.htm
The contract awards are based on competitive bidding, not subsidies or Government pressure to “Build Norwegian”.
I’ll try to find out the building costs. So far I have only found that 5 of the ferries to be built at Havyard have a combined contract value of NOK 800 Mill. (Approx. USD 100 Mill.):
Fascinating to watch the expansion of true electric vessels. How do Norwegians feel about the mix of build location vs equipment supply? Are people happy to make the money on the outfitting and leave the hulls to others?
Norwegian yards are faring fairly well after the disastrous fall in the oil and gas industry. (See my post in Shipyard News thread today)
From building almost exclusively for the Offshore Oil & Gas sector, they have diversified into for the Offshore Wind farm industry, Aquaculture, Ferries and Expedition Cruise vessels.
Most Norwegians don’t give a toss about the shipbuilding and marine equipment industry, since it is concentrated in a relatively small part along the west coast and most people live in the east, around the Oslo area.
But to answer your question from the west coast; It would make no sense to build the hulls in Norway, with the most expensive labour force in the world. To import foreign labourers to do so in Norway would also be uneconomical, since Norwegian laws demand that they be paid Norwegian wages and get Norwegian benefits.
Welding steel together into an empty shell only represent abt. 30% of the cost of the completed vessel when we are talking about complex vessels of the type that is built here. The machinery and equipment cost answer for 40-45% and the design and outfitting costs for the rest.
BTW; Much of the work force at the shipyards are foreign contract labour, since there is a shortage of such workers in Norway.
Since Norwegian shipyards don’t have a captive market, but must be competitive on the world market, even for ships built for Norwegian owners and coastal trade, they cannot afford to spend money on the simpler tasks, like hull building, which is contracted out to yards with lower labour cost. Some hulls are built at yards owned and managed by the yards in Norway (Vard), others build sections abroad and weld them together in Norway.
Some of the smaller yards building service boats for the aquaculture industry and small fishing vessels etc. and those building fast ferries from aluminium or composite material build the hulls in Norway.
Where’s the fun in that? Engine is like: upy-downy, roundy-roundy, breath in, squeeze, explode, breath out, clackity, clackity…etc. Battery is like: … uh. roundy, roundy, I guess, if I have to… but don’t expect me to make music or get warm or anything. Are we there yet?
I spoke with the guy who designed this. He’s quite young and this is his first project as a naval architect, which shows in how he threw convention to the wind. The use of inclined planes for space maximization is very clever, imo. I’m very happy to see that the project got funded.
The contract to develop, build and operate the first hydrogen fuel cell powered ferry has be issues. To be operational from 15.April, 2021:
PS> Building yard, machinery and equipment vendors has not yet been decided.
(Or at least to published, although lots of speculations has been circulated)
This ferry operated fully autonomous during a test run In Norway:
But it is not only in Norway that ferries are being automated. In Finland a ferry has done a complete crossing in fully automatic mode as well:
UPDATE:
A video from BBC’s technology program Click about the Finnish ferry:
The female Ch. Officer is happy to have a shore job, yet be able to use knowledge that she was trained for and the skills and experience gained at sea, yet be home with the kids every day.
The future for the next generation of “seafarers”??
Fjord1 has selected NES to supply electrical and automation system for conversion of an existing diesel ferry to hybrid propulsion: http://en.portnews.ru/news/272999/
