Hurtigruten has launched a new sustainability foundation, aimed at raising awareness and funds to help protect the habitats its ships visit.

As part of Hurtiguten Foundation, chief executive Daniel Skjeldam would be raised for “grassroots” organisations and charities, while the line will also be introducing voulunteering excursions for its passengers on every voyage.
“We want to offer travel with meaning,” he said. “By having guests, staff, partners and Hurtigruten friends from around the world joining forces, we aim to ensure that future guests can have the same unique experiences in these areas as guests of today.”

The line will focus on the Arctic, Antartica and along the Norwegian coast. “We’ve been sailing in some of the most pristine waters in the world for almost 175 years, and we’ve seen the effects of climate change in these areas,” he said.

Voluntary excursions on offer for passengers will include beach cleans along the coast.

“We have an initiative called ‘Clean up Svalbard’, where we tell guests that they can take part in the clean-up, and we bring back all the items on the beach and ship them out. There is so much litter that washes up – it’s heartbreaking to watch polar bears having to pick their way through plastic bags and bottles. We’ve seen that guests like to help out in changing this.”

He said Hurtigruten was still developing further volunteering excursion opportunities for passengers, which would be based on the regions that the ships sail to.