Hurtigruten Expeditions has confirmed it will christen its second hybrid-powered ship, MS Fridtjof Nansen, in Longyearbyen, Svalbard this month.
The ceremony, to be streamed online on 14 September, is likely to be the northernmost baptism ceremony for a passenger ship in history.
The decision to christen MS Fridtjof Nansen in Svalbard further highlights the long ties to the Svalbard community that Hurtigruten Expedition shares. The company was founded on Svalbard 125 years ago.
MS Fridtjof Nansen was built at Kleven shipyard in Ulsteinvik, and sailed only a few trips in early 2020 before the pandemic shut down large parts of tourism. The vessel was also broken in last year by Tom Cruise and the production crew from the next Mission Impossible film.
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Equipped with large battery packs and other green technology, Hurtigruten’s vessel is considered one of the world’s most advanced and environmentally friendly cruise ships.
Named after one of history’s most famous Norwegians, Fridtjof Nansen (1861 – 1930) led the first expedition on skis over Greenland in 1888 and traveled further north than anyone else had previously done with the Fram expedition he led from 1893-1896.
The ship will be christened with a lump of ice instead of with the traditional champagne bottle, just as sister ship MS Roald Amundsen was in Antarctica in 2019.
Lead image credit: Andrea Klaussner/Hurtigruten Expeditions