Basto-Iv

Two of the ferries on the Horten-Moss route were out of service due to technical problems, while the Oslo Fjord tunnel was closed at the same time, so that there were long queues on the quay in Moss, and waiting times of at least an hour to get on one of the ferries of Bastø Fosen on May 22, 2017. Both the "Bastø IV" and "Bastø VI" were out of order. The first departures of the "Bastø VI" would have been at 6.45 a.m. from Horten and at 7.30 a.m. from Moss. The sailings were cancelled due to an hoil leak in the main engine of the "Bastø IV". The leakage was inside the ship, so the oil did not leak into the sea. the ferry remained sidelined in Moss for the time being. At the same time the "Bastø VI" encountered a problem connecting the propeller.

In the morning of March 16, 2017, ferry operator Bastø Fosen announced at 9 a.m. that the "Bastø VI" was out of operation due to technical problemer. This reduced the ferry capacity on the Moss-Horten route.

Bastø Fosen ordered the new ferry from Cemre – along with two others from Sefine Shipyard - after it was granted the tender for operating the Horten – Moss ferry line in Norway for 10 further years from the Norwegian Road Administration, from 2017. Bastø Fosen CEO Øyvind Lund explained to Passenger Ship Technology: “In this new tender is a requirement for higher capacity with six ferries that have a minimum 200 PBE [car capacity] each. The new ferries will be operating the busiest ferry line in Norway: Horten – Moss ferry line. In this new contract with the Norwegian Road Administration we need to have a total of six ferries, with the capacity of 200 PBE each vessel. “We have built three new ferries in Turkey and they replace to older ferries that have been in operation to 31.12.2016. These two ferries had only a capacity of approx. 112 PBE. “The main requirements for the new builds is that they shall have a minimum capacity of 200 PBE each and [meet] environmental Tier III requirements.”At 142.9 metres, the vessel – called Bastø VI - is the longest ferry in Norway. source: Ship Technology