MS Nordstjernen
The Nordstjernen at the Port of Molde, 2008
IMO no. 5255777
The motor vessel Nordstjernen (German Polarstern ) is a listed Norwegian passenger ship. It was up to its decommissioning in 2012, the oldest ship in the Hurtigruten ASA and perverse intermittently from 1956 to end of March 2012 on the Hurtigruten along the coast of Norway in scheduled service. The Nordstjernen is so that the ship with the longest service life in the Hurtigruten service.
History
Predecessor
The predecessor was the 1937 -built steamer Nordstjernen. This ship sank on the night of September 22, 1954 after a collision with a rock in Raftsund, while four passengers were killed. This had jumped overboard and swam to the supposedly saving near shore. Here they succeeded but not to climb the vertically protruding from the water rocks.
Construction and commissioning
The Nordstjernen belongs together with the Ragnvald Jarl and Finmark to three ships that were built in the years 1954-1956 at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg. The Nordstjernen carries the hull number 787 While one can denote the Ragnvald Jarl and Finmark as sister ships, the first built Nordstjernen mainly occur through the amidships arranged and the machine located there "classic" chimney is different. The launch took place on 26 October 1955. February 24, 1956, the ship to the shipping company Det Bergenske Dampskibsselskab ( BDS) was delivered, and then went on its maiden voyage. The ship has been surveyed with 2194 GT.
Use
The Nordstjernen was used since its maiden voyage until 2012 exclusively for Hurtigruten cruise lines. From the shipping company BDS it was handed over to the shipping company TFDS in 1979 and went in March 2007 to the Hurtigruten Group. The Nordstjernen was last used year-round scheduled services. Previously, she was 1968-1982 and from the mid-1990s during the summer months regularly on the route to Svalbard in use, as well as between 1976 and 1979 regularly on the route from Bergen to Lerwick in the Shetlands.
Phasing in Hurtigruten ASA
In October 2011, the cruise line announced that the Nordstjernen be replaced on schedule in the spring of 2012 by again returning into service Finnmarken (2002) and is to be decommissioned. After her decommissioning she was even used one last time for Spitsbergen cruises in summer 2012, before the ship was launched for sale.
Further use
In November 2012, the ship of the Vestland Rederi AS was acquired. With mountains corresponds to her new home port that their original shipping BDS. From late 2012 until the end of June 2013 the ship was for a comprehensive overhaul work in a shipyard in Gdansk. The Norwegian conservation authority Riksantikvaren, which made the ship under protection, has acquired 2.5 million Norwegian kroner to the work, accompanied them. The Nordstjernen, which again carries on its chimney their original BDS colors, took early August 2013 at the traditional ship - occasion Fjord team in Bergen in part, and will in future be used as a hotel ship for charter tours.
Incident
On the evening of November 11 2013, the Nordstjernen ran in Karmsund near Haugesund on reason. She was stable on a skerry and initially it penetrated no water. The following morning she was successfully towed free and could invest in Haugesund. The incident was investigated by the police. During an inspection by the Maritime Administration was found that several ballast tanks had holes. Hull and Deck had suffered structural damage. A low water inflow into a loading space was under control. A representative of the Norwegian conservation authority stated that the Authority will participate in the repair work. It was happy to know that in the incident no people were harmed and the damage was not greater. Everything is repairable. The repairs were carried out at Westcon Shipyard in Ølensvåg and were completed by 2014 end of January.
Machinery and drive
The Nordstjernen was originally equipped with a diesel engine by Burmeister & Wain, who developed a power of about 3,000 hp and a four-bladed propeller drive.
In winter 1982/83 the ship at the shipyard Mjellem & Karlsen in Bergen was modernized and equipped with an 8- cylinder diesel engine of the type MaK 8M453AK, acting on a variable pitch propeller through a reduction gear. Of the three main generators of the ship have now been replaced by two new buildings.
Equipment
The ship was last approved in normal coast ride for 410 passengers, with direct coastal trade, ie on the Hurtigruten, 600 passengers were allowed. It has 62 cabins with 168 beds. The facilities and equipment of the ship has remained largely intact in the traditional style. When loading dishes serve two cranes with a load capacity of one ton and a crane with a lifting capacity of two tons. In contrast to the modern ships on the Hurtigruten, the Nordstjernen could no longer transport vehicles last. Until the mid- 1990s, the loading of up to three cars by the board cranes occurred.