Money worries get the shipping company into trouble

This probably makes it clear: the 2024 season will determine the continued existence of the 130-year-old traditional company. After all, CEO Daniel Skjeldam can claim to have a lot of crisis experience. Already in office since 2012, shortly after taking office he was able to witness the arrival of investors in 2014, who immediately initiated a major reorganization and took the company off the stock exchange. This was followed by the difficult time of the pandemic for the entire industry, before Hurtigruten suffered the hardest blow in 2021: the Norwegian authorities took away the company’s monopoly for the classic mail route along the fjords in the west of the country, which the company had once helped to develop its origins – and which is still the absolute bestseller in the shipping company’s range to this day. Hurtigruten has responded to this with another reorganization; one part of the group manages the classic Norway route, another part of the group manages other trips such as those to Antarctica under the name HX Expeditons. But that only works moderately, complains Standard & Poor’s. When asked, Hurtigruten itself does not want to talk about the explosive financial situation. After all, 400 million euros are said to have already been received for bookings this year.