Press release -
Havila Voyages receives license from Central Bank of Ireland
Havila Voyages has received a license from the Central Bank of Ireland to enable the financing and delivery of its coastal cruise ships Havila Polaris and Havila Pollux to proceed.
The license also allows the company to settle its debts with the original lenders.
"The situation we are in is very complex and demanding. The licenses are required for us to legally implement our financing solutions. Despite good assistance from the Norwegian authorities the process has taken longer than we would like. Fortunately, the license from Ireland is now in place, which enables us to legally finance our ships," says CEO Bent Martini of Havila Voyages.
Havila Voyages has also applied for licenses in the UK and the USA, to ensure both British and American investors can participate in the financing. The license from Ireland, and a previously received license from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ensure legal financing from EU countries and Scandinavia.
Havila Voyages has engaged Arctic Securities AS and Fearnley Securities AS as facilitators to assist in the financing process.
"The licenses are crucial for our facilitators to be able to work freely in relevant markets for us to settle our debts to the original lender to a frozen account according to the sanction regulations and releasing the security in the vessels," explains Martini.
"The ships will be ready for delivery as soon as we have completed the financing process, and we apologize to all affected parties for having to postpone once again," he continues.
Due to the time-consuming processes, the start-up of operations for Havila Polaris and Havila Pollux will be further delayed. The start-up date for Havila Polaris is set for 12th of June while Havila Pollux will commence operations on 18th June.
Good sales figures
Despite the uncertainty that Havila Voyages is experiencing, the company sees significant interest in the latest additions to the historic coastal route Bergen-Kirkenes-Bergen and is reporting strong sales figures.
"We have a high volume of traffic, both to our customer center and via our website, and had close to 70% occupancy in the first quarter, with 50% of all capacity for all four ships sold out for the year. This is ahead of what we expected for the year," says Martini.
"For us, it will be crucial to capitalize on the interest and get all four ships in operation. We have a societal mission to deliver, and we depend on running the company in an economically sustainable way. It is challenging when we constantly face setbacks and situations far beyond our control, but we look forward to soon being able to focus on delivering a top quality, modern product along the Norwegian coast in accordance with the agreement with Norwegian authorities," he concludes.
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The Havila Voyages is a Norwegian shipping company that sails the classic coastal voyage between Bergen and Kirkenes with the Norwegian coast's most environmentally friendly ships.
The four new ships are loaded with the world's largest battery pack, and can sail for four hours without noise or emissions through vulnerable fjords. The batteries are charged with clean hydropower at shore, and when the batteries are low we switch to natural gas which cuts CO2 by around 25 %.
The hull is specially designed for maximum energy efficiency, and excess heat from cooling water and sea used for heating on board. On the menu are locally made dishes from local producers, and all unnecessary plastic is avoided. We are already exceeding the authorities' requirements for cutting emission, and we have set sail with zero emissions as the future target.
The Havila Voyages is part of the Havila Group that dates back to the 1950s. It all started when the founder, Per Sævik, bought his first fishing boat in his teens. From fishing and herring fishing, Havila is now a group operating in shipping technology, offshore, transport and tourism.
