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The Trade and Industry Minister and the unions met on Thursday to discuss how Hurtigruten operates. The meeting came after NRK’s disclosure of how the government has facilitated Norwegian cruises.
Hurtigruten saves a lot of money by using cheap foreign labor on cruise ships. They are allowed to do so, even if they sail in Norwegian waters.
Making a short stop, hours after departure from Hamburg, in the German industrial port of Cuxhaven, he takes cover so that Hurtigruten can use cheap foreign labor on his cruises, even if they sail in Norwegian waters.
Photo: CHRISTIAN KRÅKENES / NRK
For Hurtigruten to do this, the law requires the ship to call at at least two foreign ports on each voyage. Hurtigruten has fixed this problem on the crossings between Hamburg and Norway by adding for a few minutes, including in Cuxhaven in Germany. No passengers getting on or off. With the blessing of the government.
Critical opposition
The Center Party has accused the government and Hurtigruten of joining forces to deceive the system. The Labor Party and the Red Party have also criticized the role of the government.
Trade and Industry Minister Iselin Nybø (V) cautions about cleanliness and a clearer definition of what a call for something is. In the background, Peggy Hessen Følsvik in LO, who is hoping for a rule change.
Photo: CHRISTIAN KRÅKENES / NRK
– There is no one who has had any desire to deceive the system, but they have tried to keep the Norwegian flag, and then now we see that there has been a practice that may be within the regulations, but that is completely on the border, says the Minister of Commerce and Industry Iselin Nybø (V).
– What do you mean the border?
– We have a regulation that says that ships must call at two foreign ports. At the same time, we are now looking at whether it is necessary to clarify what the calls at two ports mean, Nybø says.
People from the unions were encouraged after the meeting ended on Thursday afternoon.
– Will clean
– We are hopeful that there will now be a rule change, or at least a clarification of the rules, which means that players here cannot easily change the provisions we have, says Peggy Hessen Følsvik, who is the first deputy director of LO .
The Norwegian Seamen’s Association describes the Minister for Trade and Industry as leaning forward.
– I’m optimistic. As I understand it, she’s going to clean this up. My expectation is that this will happen relatively quickly, says Stian Grøthe from the Norwegian Seafarers Association.
Peggy Hessen Følsvik at LO, and Stian Grøthe at Sjømannsforbundet, expect a quick cleanup after the meeting with the Minister of Commerce and Industry.
Photo: CHRISTIAN KRÅKENES / NRK
Ask for political signal
The Norwegian Association of Engineers says it is not a new situation for the maritime industry to operate in violation of regulations, but that this has been monitored to a small extent.
– Violations of regulations must be tracked if they are to have any meaning, says CEO Hege-Merethe Bengtsson of the Norwegian Machinery Association.
Ask for a political signal from the ministry that the violations will be followed up.
– It is important that such a signal is sent, preferably from the Minister of Commerce and Industry, that violations will be followed up after this, says Bengtsson.
Although Nybø has now promised to clean up, it is unclear whether and how the Ministry of Commerce and Industry will prosecute regulatory violations in the future. When it comes to Hurtigruten’s trips, which Nybø says “maybe” are within the regulations, there will likely be no police report or eviction from the NIS registry, as the regulations allow.
