Fjord Line was founded in 1993 as a subsidiary of the Norwegian company Rutelaget Askøy-Bergen AS, which has been offering ferry services in Norway since 1950. From the very beginning, Fjord Line's main area of business has been the connection between northern Jutland and Norway. Today, Fjord Line operates a fleet of four vessels, including one catamaran ferry and three conventional vessels. Some of the ships run on liquefied natural gas and therefore have an exceptionally good environmental balance.
Crossings are offered from Hirtshals in Denmark across the Skagerrak to Kristiansand, Langesund and Stavanger in Norway. The shortest route, and therefore the main connection, is from Hirtshals to Kristiansand, which operates three times a day all year round. By using a fast catamaran ferry, Fjord Line achieves an unrivaled short journey time of just 2 hours and 15 minutes and therefore advertises this route as "the fastest way to Norway".
At 4.5 hours, the journey time on the route from Hirtshals to the Norwegian port of Langesund, a little further north-east, is significantly longer and is served once a day by a conventional ferry. A third connection from Hirtshals initially runs overnight to Stavanger and from there on to Bergen. Cabins in various price and comfort classes are offered on this route, which operates once a day.
Since 2014, Fjord Line has been offering a twice-daily connection from the Norwegian port of Sandefjord to Strömstad in Sweden, which bridges the expansive Oslofjord and is therefore an attractive alternative to the domestic connection from Norway to Sweden. At 2 hours and 30 minutes, this connection is also quite short; the shipping company particularly emphasizes the shopping offer here, which offers significantly lower prices than inland due to the "tax-free shopping pleasure". A tax-free store is also available on the voyages from Hirtshals to Langesund.
Header Image: Erik Ask / Fjord Line