Trollfjord

Just after the first series of newbuilds were taken into service for the Hurtig Ruten, or Norwegian Coastal Voyage in America, a second series was built to a slightly different design but of almost identical size. Trollfjord was the second ship in this new class, following Finnmarken. Both ships entered service in 2002. One year later, a thirth sister also started her sailings, she is named Midnatsol.

Trollfjord was delivered to her company, TFDS, by Fosen Mekaniske Verksted in Riessa, Norway at the 13th of may 2002. She was built under yardnumber 72, although building her had started in Sweden at Bruce's Shipyard with the laying of her keel at the 18th of april 2001. She was launched in Sweden at thew 10th of october of that same year, and then towed over to Riessa for completion. The ship was named by Kari Bremnes, a 1956-born Norwegian singer. She is, together with her sister Mitnatsol, the largest ship within the Hurtig Ruten-fleet and measures 16.140 tons, is 135,75 meters long, 21,5 meters wide and her draft is 5,10 meters. She normally sails at 18 knots, powered by two Wärtsilä-designed dieselengines that drive two Aquamaster pods. Some 822 passengers can sail her during cruises, cared for by 74 crewmembers. These are not the numbers that are mostly known for modern cruiseliners, but keep in mind she will be mostly sailing as a ferry on the traditional Hurtig Ruten service. Because of this, the ship also has a cardeck for 45 cars. There is a total of nine decks, but her passengers only use seven of those.

One of the nicest interiour spaces is the so-called Troll Hall, her forward observation hall spanning two decks. Floor to seiling windows give spectacular views over the ships bow. Being a ship mostly sailing the icy northern waters, she doesn't have an outside pool or true sundeck, but there are jacuzzi's and their hot water seems very tempting in the cold temperatures. Her artworks partially come from the 1960-built Harald Jarl, a ship she replaced within the Hurtig Ruten fleet. Those artworks, about trolls and fjords, were created by Kaare Espolin Johnson in the late 1950's and are placed in a room with his name. There are several more lounges and bars, all very light spaces with cream colours. In the ships Valhall, lectures are given throughout the voyage and also movies and documentaries can be shown here.

At deck five, there are the restaurants, the buffet-style Viking Market and the a-la carte Saga Hall restaurant, but do remember that the last one is not included in the overall price for the voyage. Cuisine served is mostly traditional Norwegian.

Trollfjord sailed her first traditional voyage, departing the port of Bergen on the 18th of may 2002. A few months later, on the 18th of october, sidethrusters were installed for better manouverability at the Fosen Mekaniske Verksted and she again started service at the 30th of october. In march 2006, OVDS and TFDS merged under the banner of Hurtigruten, but the ships homeports stayed the same, so Trollfjord kept her registry at Tromso. The ship did recieve new funnelcolours though, the traditional red-white-red stripes dissappeared and were replaced by the white 'h' in a red sun, standing of course for Hurtig Ruten. 

What's in a name, could we say, when the ship ran aground near Svolvaer at the Trollfjord at the 9th of may 2007. There was slight damage to the ships hull and her fueltanks, but she could sail to the Bergen Mekaniske Verksted at Laksevag for repairs under her own power, but without passengers.

The Troll Fjord is of course a combination of Trolls and Fjords, the two things that are so easily linked to Norway. But the Troll Fjord is in fact a two kilometer long, narrow fjord, the widest point is at the mouth near Raftsunded. Here the fjord is about 100 meters wide. At the end of the fjord, the highest peaks rise up to more then 1000 meters. Just to the west of the fjord lies a lake, 162 meters above sealevel and it is called Trollfjordvatnet. It is said, this fjord gets the coastal express ships the cloasest to the Norwegian trolls themselves, but the captain mostly finds his way out of the fjord before the trolls wake up from their 1000 years of sleep after their midday nap. Then it can become ugly because they are known for throwing stones at passing ships...

Trollfjord is also known for the Battle of Trollfjord. This was not in any worldwar or whatsoever, this battle was between two groups of fishermen, fighting over large amounts of fish. The battle was between fishermen in small sailingboats and those in larger steam-driven ships.