MS Vesterålen (1983)

I have also built M/S Vesterålen, which was put into service 16th February for Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab, and built at Kaarbøs Mek Verksted in Harstad. It is the third Hurtigruten ship to have this name. The first one was Vesteraalen, the very first Hurtigruten ship. I built that in original look, with open cargo deck and Vesteraalske colors with light blue stripe. It replaced the old one, which taken the name Vesterålen II. Ofotens Dampskibsselskab should overtake Vesteraalske's Stocks in 1985, and in 1988, the two companies was merged into Ofotens og Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab. For Vesterålen, the light blue stripe was painted into red like Narvik. After Midnatsol was rebuilt at Bremerhaven, West-Germany in winter 1988, it was followed by Vesterålen to Bremerhaven for rebuilding. It got a new section above the former cargo deck and a panorama saloon was also built. It was back in service 21st November 1988. Narvik was also rebuilt in autumn 1989. The three ships went to Haugesund in 1995 for refurbishing the interior. In February 1998, along with Nordkapp, it brought British NATO-soldiers from Granvin to Narvik, OVDS' home town. The ship wasn't laid up or chartered during the turbulent 2000-years. In 2006, OVDS and TFDS merged and Hurtigruten AS was created. When the two other sisters, Lyngen (ex Midnatsol) and Narvik was sold in 2007, Vesterålen is the only remaining ship of the "mellomgenerasjonen" who is still in Hurtigruten service. On 9th January 2013, Vesterålen collided with the port in Bergen while it would arrive. Also, the passenger tube at Hurtigruteterminalen was also damaged and the bow got minor injuries.

The other two ships, Lyngen (ex Midnatsol) is currently a cruiseship named National Geographic Explorer and Narvik is now a school ship named Gann.

Stay tuned for the rebuilt version!