Fridtjof Nansen’s naming ceremony to be held on Svalbard

Hurtigruten Expeditions is to officially name battery-powered vessel Fridtjof Nansen on Norwegian archipelago Svalbard this month.

The line said the September 14 ceremony will be “the northernmost naming” ever held for a passenger ship and that it would be live streamed.

Fridtjof Nansen (pictured) sailed a series of ex-UK preview cruises last year before the pandemic brought cruise operations across the world to a halt.

Rune Thomas Ege, Hurtigruten’s vice president, public relations and communications, said: “The ship did some preview cruises prior to Covid-19 and, when the pandemic hit, the ship never got into regular operations so we never got to do a proper naming ceremony.”

Fridtjof Nansen will be named by breaking a chunk of ice against the hull, rather than a traditional bottle of Champagne, the line said.

Hurtigruten Expeditions chief executive Asta Lassesen said: “When looking for a location for the naming of Fridtjof Nansen, we couldn’t think of a better place than Svalbard. For expedition cruising, this is where it all began.”

Hurtigruten Expeditions’ vessel is named after polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen.

“By naming this expedition ship after Fridtjof Nansen, on Svalbard, we wish to pay tribute to him by virtue of his achievements both as an explorer and a humanitarian,” Lassesen added.

It will not be the first time a Hurtigruten ship is named in the polar regions. In 2019, Fridtjof Nansen’s sister vessel Roald Amundsen was named in Antarctica.

More: New Hurtigruten ship to offer four ex-UK sailings in 2020