Havila will build two of its ships set for Norwegian coastal service at Tershan Shipyard in Turkey, according to local reports.

Deliveries are slated for September 2020, giving Tershan 24 months to build the vessels. 

Terhan has built offshore, fishing, specialized vessels and tankers in the past; but has not yet built a traditional passenger vessel.

Havila was awarded part of the government contract to operate coastal service in Norway starting in 2021, splitting the deal with Hurtigruten.

The ships were previously announced as being able to run on LNG and battery powered, but no further details have been announced. 

With no prior passenger ship experience, Havila will need to build four ships in a short window to launch service by 2021.

With two ships set to be built in Turkey, attention now turns to Spain, where H.J. Barreras is expected to lock down the contract for the other two ships Havila is expected to build and launch by January 2021.

Havila Shipping reported a loss of NOK 213.5 million for the first six months of 2018, compared to net income of NOK 964.1 million for the same period in 2017. For the full year of 2017, Havila reported net income of NOK 764.9 million, compared to a loss of NOK 1.2 billion for 2016.

Havila works mainly in the offshore industry in Norway and internationally and operates 23 within subsea construction, anchor handling and platform supply vessels. Seventeen of vessels are wholly-owned, one is partly owned, one is chartered and four vessels operated on behalf of external owners, according to the company’s latest second quarter report.

Tershan and Havila did not respond to requests for comment.