Episode 2
Cruise Pioneers | Clean Sailing in Heritage Fjords
In the second episode of Cruise Pioneers, host Birgit Liodden, sits down with Njål Sævik, Co-Founder of Havila Holding, and Bent Martini, CEO of Havila Voyages, to explore how a family-owned business is leading the way toward sustainable cruise expeditions in the Norwegian Fjords.
This episode dives deep into Havila’s holistic approach to achieving emission-free and waste-free operations through a robust ecosystem of innovative technologies, circular economy principles, and a steadfast commitment to people and nature.
Discover how Havila Group is setting a new standard for responsible tourism, particularly when sailing through world heritage sites. Our guests share their vision of a sustainable future, where investment in both technology and human capital drives impactful change.
Tune in to learn how this pioneering company is bringing its values to life—from building an internal ecosystem of solutions to championing a greener, more circular cruise industry.
Mentioned in this episode:
TOOL's Cruise Innovators
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Transcript
>> Birgit Liodden: Today we are joined by two amazing guests
Speaker:from one of the cruise pioneers in our sphere.
Speaker:We have with us Noel Sevik, who is the
Speaker:chair of Havilah holding and co owner of
Speaker:Havilah Group, and Bent Martini, the
Speaker:CEO of Havilah Voyages. And
Speaker:today we're going to dive deep into
Speaker:how a family owned group
Speaker:is truly bringing their values
Speaker:into life, with a broad range of
Speaker:initiatives in the maritime sector and including
Speaker:a true pioneer on more sustainable cruise
Speaker:expeditions. So welcome
Speaker:Njol and Ben, nice to have you with me.
Speaker:>> Njål Sævik: Thank you, nice to be here.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: And we are here with you today
Speaker:to talk about your pioneer commitment.
Speaker:We have listed some of your initiatives in Havala
Speaker:Voyages among our global overview
Speaker:of cruise pioneers. And we are super
Speaker:eager to hear a little bit more from you guys
Speaker:personally about your high level targets
Speaker:for emission free and waste free cruise
Speaker:and how you are building the competitive edge for
Speaker:future proof industry with your initiatives.
Speaker:And of course here we are talking about real
Speaker:action, not including carbon credits,
Speaker:and we know that you guys, you have done a lot,
Speaker:we are really looking forward to hear first from
Speaker:you Njol, you are the second generation
Speaker:owner of Havilah and hands
Speaker:hm on in the operations and I would
Speaker:love to hear and share with our audience how
Speaker:your father paid, and your own
Speaker:family values and your personal story and
Speaker:background has been embedded both
Speaker:when you started building up Kavila way back and
Speaker:also how it's implemented into the current
Speaker:journey of the group as a whole,
Speaker:today.
Speaker:>> Noel Sevik: Thank you Bill. We're coming for a small
Speaker:place on the west coast of Norway and started with
Speaker:fisheries back or my granddad started with fisheries back
Speaker:in the forest together with some friends.
Speaker:Family was in fisheries until 81. Then
Speaker:my father and one of my uncles went into offshore
Speaker:and developed companies
Speaker:or we are now an offshore company number four,
Speaker:and also have diversified into
Speaker:other prospects. But I
Speaker:think one of the reason that Havila
Speaker:Group here are where it is today is
Speaker:that you used what I used to say, the fisherman
Speaker:culture. You're eager to use technology,
Speaker:you're eager to find opportunities and
Speaker:you need to, you know, to get hard work
Speaker:hard to get success and find the solutions.
Speaker:And today the
Speaker:Jose Havila holding values is for
Speaker:progress and prosperity, administer what you
Speaker:have been created over generation, refine and
Speaker:create new values, establish
Speaker:rewarding jobs and build communities.
Speaker:and those values we try to use in the whole group
Speaker:in all the businesses and
Speaker:also would say with that
Speaker:it's always looking for new
Speaker:things to do that you also haven't done
Speaker:before. So the last addition in the
Speaker:group is actually our biogas plant which was
Speaker:opened in November this
Speaker:year. So that's nothing that the maritime to do
Speaker:but It's something that someone or someone we
Speaker:know have an idea and an opportunity which we jumped
Speaker:on and that also I can bring back
Speaker:to my father. And when he was a child. He was
Speaker:six years old when he
Speaker:or my grandmom didn't find him one
Speaker:day and The rowboat was
Speaker:gone from where it was staying.
Speaker:In the afternoon he came back of course they were seeking
Speaker:and was asking everyone if someone had seen him.
Speaker:But what I did as a 6 year old guy I took this robot
Speaker:crossed the fiord to the small city
Speaker:across the island we live which is 1
Speaker:nautical mile 1852
Speaker:meter. So when he came back I know the
Speaker:boat towed him back but when he came back my grandmother asked me why did
Speaker:you do it? I just want to see if I could make
Speaker:it. And I think that's something we. Which
Speaker:is very describable also for.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: For the group M. That's an
Speaker:amazing story and it's also
Speaker:I think it's very. It's very well
Speaker:connected to basically the cruise innovators
Speaker:we work with. I mean it's truly the
Speaker:entrepreneurial spirit being kept alive in
Speaker:many different ways all the way from. From
Speaker:him as a six year old and to where you are today.
Speaker:And Ben I wondered. I mean you have a. You have a
Speaker:strong leader career in
Speaker:the maritime and How
Speaker:is it coming into a family owned
Speaker:company like Havilah with very committed and
Speaker:engaged owners and then bringing your own
Speaker:values and hard courses
Speaker:really into the journey of Havila
Speaker:Voyages.
Speaker:>> Bent Martini: To be frank I think it was not
Speaker:very difficult for me to actually fall in
Speaker:into the kind of the thoughts and the
Speaker:values and the
Speaker:Ability to create willingness to
Speaker:create willingness to
Speaker:actually
Speaker:Deliver something that actually
Speaker:Give something back to the one thing is
Speaker:to the nature and the commitment to the nature
Speaker:and the people involved in the
Speaker:company because Having a kind of
Speaker:committed owners understanding what you really are
Speaker:doing. Not only
Speaker:financial instrument but also coming
Speaker:into the operations that's
Speaker:so fantastic for all
Speaker:actually working in Havila Voyages is Having
Speaker:owners that really do understand this business and to
Speaker:understand What it means to actually create
Speaker:and build up Such a company.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: and can you tell me Ben, what are the
Speaker:key ambitions and targets for Javier La Voya?
Speaker:Just to explain that to our listeners and viewers out
Speaker:there when it comes to moving us
Speaker:towards an emission free and waste free
Speaker:future.
Speaker:>> Bent Martini: Yeah I think the only
Speaker:actually two sentences that
Speaker:Pair Savik, and the family actually gave me when
Speaker:I started this is pair
Speaker:have said that we are sailing in the world
Speaker:heritage. so should the generation to
Speaker:come be able to do,
Speaker:meaning that we have
Speaker:a, we have a
Speaker:task to actually whatever we are
Speaker:doing, we should do it and
Speaker:take care of the nature.
Speaker:and looking at
Speaker:one thing is to build vessels, believing in
Speaker:technology, choosing technology, that is
Speaker:something of course extremely
Speaker:difficult when you are investing four or five
Speaker:hundred million dollars in building Vess,
Speaker:looking ten years ahead. What will be the,
Speaker:what, what really will be the technology out
Speaker:there and how should you do that? And then you also
Speaker:have to invest in the people, you have to build up the
Speaker:people and create kind
Speaker:of the DNA in a company that
Speaker:actually should move the company forward.
Speaker:should you be able to do that? Everyone needs to believe
Speaker:and it starts with the top. The
Speaker:owners need to be committed and
Speaker:we in the management need to be committed.
Speaker:And then as long as we walk the talk, we
Speaker:actually will be able to
Speaker:deliver something. And with the ambitions this
Speaker:company have, with the owners
Speaker:support of course we have
Speaker:moved this industry
Speaker:far what it comes to
Speaker:kind of the technology on the environmental side
Speaker:is one thing, but also the concepts we are
Speaker:operating on board with the food
Speaker:waste focus on reducing the food
Speaker:waste, circular economy in all
Speaker:aspects of the operations. That's extremely
Speaker:important for us. So whatever we are doing should
Speaker:start with the ambitions of sustainable
Speaker:operation. And that is supported by the owners. And I
Speaker:have a slogan and that is try a little, learn a lot
Speaker:because try it out. Don't
Speaker:wait to get kind of instructions or
Speaker:whatever because those that
Speaker:people that are working on board the vessels, they are
Speaker:out there every day they see solutions.
Speaker:Try it out and share,
Speaker:learn from it, share don't be afraid to do
Speaker:small errors. That's okay because that's the only
Speaker:way we can learn. If you look at all
Speaker:the aspects of operating such
Speaker:vessels having unique
Speaker:ambitions in moving forward,
Speaker:then we will do errors, but we have to
Speaker:learn from it and share and then we will
Speaker:just grow and
Speaker:develop together. So for
Speaker:me coming from many, many years in the
Speaker:deep sea, where we also have a
Speaker:fantastic focus on safety and
Speaker:environmental side. coming into this,
Speaker:being allowed to actually grow together
Speaker:with everyone else. supported
Speaker:by a family with a fantastic
Speaker:ambition. their legacy
Speaker:is I think will be that they
Speaker:were those that actually moved this
Speaker:industry with their investments and their belief
Speaker:in sustainable operations.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: Thank you Ben and Njool.
Speaker:I mean this is I think really great to
Speaker:listen how Ben describes your group and the
Speaker:family ownership in this. and I mean
Speaker:you're quite new on the coastal route
Speaker:and this more like the expedition cruise
Speaker:operations. But as I recall
Speaker:this builds into a more
Speaker:holistic approach on working towards an
Speaker:emission free, waste free industry. And can you
Speaker:share a little bit more with us? Because I mean Haviland
Speaker:Voyages is more kind of one
Speaker:part of sort of an ecosystem
Speaker:of operations and solutions
Speaker:and companies within your group.
Speaker:Can you talk a little bit more about what
Speaker:else is it that group has
Speaker:its fingers and ambitions into in order to
Speaker:drive this green transition for all of
Speaker:us.
Speaker:>> Noel Sevik: Of course it started actually with
Speaker:offshore, which offshore less low is also working
Speaker:in renewable. So but it started there the driving
Speaker:forces, and also I would say booming time from
Speaker:07 until 12 where you
Speaker:did a lot of the easy things. Technology, device
Speaker:and also human wise. we was
Speaker:also looking to sitting on as
Speaker:a majority shareholder in
Speaker:a ferry company which was
Speaker:sold last year, then had
Speaker:80 more or less 80 ferries
Speaker:where from 2013 till
Speaker:we sold half of them was
Speaker:being electrical.
Speaker:so then also when we would say
Speaker:decided and was lucky enough to be able
Speaker:to do the Havilah Boyegas, of course you try to
Speaker:use the knowledge you have learned the technology
Speaker:and develop that into
Speaker:those. and of course our
Speaker:knowledge is about or have been
Speaker:about operating in ships.
Speaker:So we felt we had control there and
Speaker:it was willing and eager to
Speaker:also use the
Speaker:2018 technology to be the
Speaker:best in that because that's also something you learn
Speaker:and a little bit back again to the fishermen
Speaker:culture. and also what you are seeing when the
Speaker:offshore was booming. I'm not sure if all projects that
Speaker:have been realized are really fitted into
Speaker:Excel sheets because as long as you believe in
Speaker:technology, you are willing to
Speaker:put some money into it and take the risk that it would
Speaker:work because you know that it will give
Speaker:you an advantage if does.
Speaker:And that of course in combined with a lot of
Speaker:majority suppliers which
Speaker:are also on the same
Speaker:foot give an advantage.
Speaker:and that's something from our perspective
Speaker:is very important to be successful in business.
Speaker:but of course the most important thing that's
Speaker:people. It's always known to people
Speaker:and that's from the top to the last man.
Speaker:And there I think we have a culture which is very
Speaker:good. As Ben said, give
Speaker:input, do things and not
Speaker:even do mistakes because everyone do
Speaker:mistakes small and big, but learn from your mistakes.
Speaker:That's also more or less saying
Speaker:we have in our group in all the
Speaker:companies do things.
Speaker:It's much better to do things and don't do it wrong
Speaker:than sit there and do nothing and hope it's
Speaker:go in the direction you want it to do.
Speaker:And of course then you need to
Speaker:also when you move m into things you don't know
Speaker:anything about or more or less do not anything about,
Speaker:you also need to connect with people that can
Speaker:give you the knowledge and be supportive to
Speaker:you. And of course we also
Speaker:own three hotels. so you can
Speaker:say but it's different to run a hotel in Gyrangar, to do
Speaker:it on a ship visiting the Geirong Fjord.
Speaker:So but we try
Speaker:to put the knowledge together in the whole group
Speaker:and use it where it can be used.
Speaker:and m let everyone know
Speaker:what's going on and also as much as possible
Speaker:and also let the other companies,
Speaker:even those you don't think have any knowledge to get
Speaker:out from voyages but if they know that that is going
Speaker:on, maybe someone that you haven't thought about can say
Speaker:oh not the full picture of that but a small part of
Speaker:it I can use in my business to do it better
Speaker:or more environmental friendly.
Speaker:So it's about
Speaker:combination available technology and knowledge
Speaker:and also try to seek for new
Speaker:things to do to do it better and more environmentally
Speaker:friendly. That's a little bit
Speaker:in our bone to use that word.
Speaker:Definitely.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: And you have of course you have had a
Speaker:very interesting first
Speaker:mover initiative on batteries with I think
Speaker:Corvus. and
Speaker:I hear word on the street says that you do a lot
Speaker:focus also on the hydrogen value chain. Can you talk
Speaker:a little bit more about
Speaker:your path basically in Havilah
Speaker:towards the green transition.
Speaker:>> Noel Sevik: Yeah the battery was obvious because that
Speaker:was, was available and something that you could do
Speaker:and when the vessels was delivered that was the largest battery
Speaker:pack in the world. But
Speaker:we also saw that when this was done there
Speaker:was several other
Speaker:technologies being discussed as what say the
Speaker:green future for fuel.
Speaker:amongst those hydrogen. So hof
Speaker:Design together with Sintef
Speaker:got a pilot to develop
Speaker:we'll say a hydrogen project on the Havil
Speaker:avoided as vessel which which is now done and
Speaker:so so in place also would say
Speaker:can can be done. but as always
Speaker:it's Was it two things with moving into new things
Speaker:like that and that's one thing is the technology and be able
Speaker:to do it on the ship. And the second thing is was the
Speaker:infrastructure. Get availability of
Speaker:hydrogen, get acceptance
Speaker:for it, get authorities,
Speaker:customers, everyone else involved.
Speaker:ah and of course it's down to
Speaker:financials and
Speaker:we also today as long as there are
Speaker:enough biogas available we can change that.
Speaker:Tomorrow we can start using biogas and then
Speaker:more or less be CO2 emission free
Speaker:or emission natural.
Speaker:But of course that cost extra m money and
Speaker:Yeah as long someone need to take
Speaker:that extra cost. And
Speaker:we have said that we can take some of it and
Speaker:also challenge others to be part
Speaker:to develop that. But we haven't been successful so
Speaker:far on that m. Thank
Speaker:you.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: And that brings us really into the kind
Speaker:of next stage. I mean because you have very strong
Speaker:and bold and clear commitments. and
Speaker:I'm very curious to hear about the progress that you're
Speaker:making. Where are you ahead of your targets and
Speaker:where is it in which areas is it that you really experience
Speaker:the most challenging bottlenecks when it comes to
Speaker:delivering the group and the Havilah
Speaker:voyages, ambitions and commitments.
Speaker:Do you have some good examples?
Speaker:>> Noel Sevik: I think if we start with the villa voyages I think we are a
Speaker:little bit ahead of schedule on the total picture.
Speaker:Some is above Ben can maybe say more in
Speaker:details about it. the offshore
Speaker:renewable side of things we are more or less on target.
Speaker:We have said internally but again we did
Speaker:a lot of what say the easy things until
Speaker:2018, 2020. So now it's real
Speaker:hard work to do. Yeah it's
Speaker:hard work and day to day work. We have
Speaker:what say was early out to
Speaker:optimalimize to get control of fuel
Speaker:consumption and all these things. And also a system that we can follow
Speaker:that on an hour by hour basis at
Speaker:office if we want to. But
Speaker:it's much down to the
Speaker:small things, down to people and how you do things on board and do
Speaker:it a little bit smarter. and then my
Speaker:challenge on the offshore renewable side
Speaker:is that you see that vessels working in the North Sea
Speaker:you have high acceptance and
Speaker:a target together with your clients. But when you
Speaker:get outside The North Sea, it's different rules
Speaker:and ambitions on this. and as
Speaker:long as then your client is
Speaker:deciding operation and if
Speaker:it's safe to run with four or six engines,
Speaker:it's not only done to us. So that's another
Speaker:perspective you need to take into consideration.
Speaker:we have seen on the Havilah voyages vessels
Speaker:that when people start learning the
Speaker:vessels LNG
Speaker:consumption have been going down quite
Speaker:rapidly from the start. All these other
Speaker:things which have been targeted had more or less been met,
Speaker:all of them I think. And then it's of course don't
Speaker:to start to be more ambitious and
Speaker:stretch it a little bit longer than you had as a plan
Speaker:in the beginning. But for the group
Speaker:on the what say vessel side, we
Speaker:are following the ambitions which both the Ship Owners
Speaker:association have and most of the other shipping
Speaker:companies today have. but
Speaker:we probably see that the
Speaker:2030 targets, they will be hard to
Speaker:reach, especially on the offshore
Speaker:side because Yeah, some of those things
Speaker:that was thought going to happen when you set
Speaker:as ambitions 20, 21,
Speaker:22 haven't happened.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: Thank you. I'm bent on your
Speaker:side more in depth into voyages.
Speaker:you have I think ships that are hydrogen
Speaker:ready so to say, where
Speaker:do you have bottlenecks and what has really been
Speaker:the challenges operational?
Speaker:>> Bent Martini: Ah, we have as also
Speaker:mentioned by the project, ah
Speaker:actually since 2018, which we post last
Speaker:year that is developing
Speaker:concept with running these vessels
Speaker:on hydrogen and the vessels are prepared
Speaker:for running on hydrogen. and we also have a
Speaker:pre approval from the Norwegian Maritime
Speaker:Directorate and the NVSA Class Society
Speaker:to do that. so whether we,
Speaker:we can do hydrogen, we can do
Speaker:ammonia. I think
Speaker:the big question is rather what will
Speaker:be the requirements or the
Speaker:regulations by the Norwegian government in the
Speaker:next concession along the. If
Speaker:you look at the coastal route, because
Speaker:the cost of hydrogen versus LNG
Speaker:or biogas is much higher. so
Speaker:the start starting point there is How
Speaker:do you actually commercialize hydrogen
Speaker:in this business. we have a great
Speaker:cooperation with companies
Speaker:now actually have been
Speaker:they have received money from the Norwegian government or
Speaker:by NOVA to invest in
Speaker:hydrogen plants.
Speaker:so we have kind of a very good
Speaker:solution if you look at the distribution of hydrogen
Speaker:without kind of having to invest in
Speaker:infrastructure for the Norwegian government. so we can
Speaker:actually be self supported along the Norwegian coast
Speaker:with hydrogen meaning that we can Save
Speaker:zero emission, along the Norwegian
Speaker:coast. Our vessels are prepared. We
Speaker:can sail with biogas
Speaker:today in combination with the battery packages.
Speaker:We are klima neutral.
Speaker:we have reduced the CO2 by
Speaker:35 to 40%, up to now
Speaker:compared to the figures, or
Speaker:the requirements in the contract with the government.
Speaker:That's compared to similar vessels running on
Speaker:diesel. So we have done a lot so
Speaker:far. But our ambitions is that we by
Speaker:2028 should be climate neutral, meaning that
Speaker:we will start blending in biogas
Speaker:already next year. and
Speaker:then by 2028
Speaker:be climate neutral, and by
Speaker:2030, zero emission ready.
Speaker:Meaning that when we enter into the new concession,
Speaker:if the Norwegian government put that as a
Speaker:requirement, we are already
Speaker:ready to sail these vessels,
Speaker:zero emission. And we also have other projects
Speaker:running now. meaning that we
Speaker:can catch the CO2, in the
Speaker:LNG. that is also a potential for us
Speaker:to continue running on LNG. But
Speaker:we will catch the CO2
Speaker:and methane, and then
Speaker:we are zero emission also,
Speaker:in that respect. So. Meaning that we are working
Speaker:with different
Speaker:technologies, and prepared actually
Speaker:for different technologies with the vessels we have
Speaker:today. So,
Speaker:when I see that all others,
Speaker:they are just talking about the challenges
Speaker:and the troubles, we have the solutions, we are
Speaker:ready. Ah, and we will also by
Speaker:2030, triple the
Speaker:capacity, on the battery packages. the technology
Speaker:of battery are extremely
Speaker:positive, developing fast.
Speaker:So compared to 2021
Speaker:when we got delivered the biggest
Speaker:battery package in the world, 6.1 megawatt on board
Speaker:such a vessel in 2030 or
Speaker:actually tomorrow we could have this tripled,
Speaker:at the same weight. Yeah. So in
Speaker:2030 at least triple,
Speaker:maybe higher capacity.
Speaker:So I think if you look at the
Speaker:bottlenecks, that is,
Speaker:I think the regulators, they need to
Speaker:really deliver on the ambitions.
Speaker:You cannot just like they did with the World
Speaker:Heritage fjords in Norway, just change
Speaker:regulations because someone is complaining,
Speaker:someone is not doing their job. We were
Speaker:ready, we sailed the World Heritage fjords.
Speaker:Zero emissions already four years
Speaker:ahead of 2026, which was
Speaker:the ambitions for the
Speaker:Norwegian government. now they have changed that to
Speaker:2032, which is
Speaker:crazy. It's a scandal. if you look at
Speaker:the, you cannot, you cannot blame
Speaker:the technology. The technology is there. This
Speaker:is more kind of the willingness, for those out there to
Speaker:invest and do the job.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: And that's so interesting. I think
Speaker:as we Are having a very clear
Speaker:target with cruise pioneers podcast of also reaching
Speaker:out to the outside world and talents that
Speaker:are eager to be part of changing
Speaker:society. I mean it's quite
Speaker:ironic that we actually see this
Speaker:amazing case where business is ready and
Speaker:waiting for the government. Ah so I think this is
Speaker:also a A huge opportunity for any young
Speaker:listeners out there. The talents you know make
Speaker:your voices heard and actually get out there
Speaker:towards towards our politicians and those that are making
Speaker:the decisions in society as well. I think
Speaker:this is really you know the a
Speaker:huge growth now of young people who
Speaker:wants to work with creating a
Speaker:green footprint and spending their lives being
Speaker:part of solving huge challenges.
Speaker:And I think well one thing is that the
Speaker:industries and the business sector says
Speaker:that we are ready to go but I think then the
Speaker:young generation can also make a huge impact
Speaker:towards their politicians in pushing
Speaker:them on standing firmly and
Speaker:committed to what they have set out for.
Speaker:And I also then wondered because of
Speaker:course you are working with
Speaker:very complex issues and I think
Speaker:Moving us towards 2030 of course the
Speaker:hot potato and the hot topic out
Speaker:there all over cruise and in the maritime sector is
Speaker:really also how can we capitalize, how can we
Speaker:find solutions and implement solutions on
Speaker:existing fleet and ships that will enable
Speaker:us to take down emissions while we are waiting
Speaker:for the new and completely clean technologies.
Speaker:And that really brings us into
Speaker:the of power couples
Speaker:that this series is really all about.
Speaker:we dive into these power couple
Speaker:dynamics where one larger
Speaker:player targets is the other smaller actors
Speaker:business case across the value chain.
Speaker:And It was just mentioned that you work
Speaker:with Corvus on batteries with half design on
Speaker:the fuel cells. do you have other
Speaker:good cases
Speaker:where the group has worked proactively
Speaker:with entrepreneurs and smaller
Speaker:innovators in really
Speaker:moving your
Speaker:actions and the progress in the group
Speaker:in a different way because you work in the mix
Speaker:of corporate startup corporate
Speaker:innovator that you could share with our audience
Speaker:Niol like to start with you.
Speaker:>> Noel Sevik: We have a lot of small and larger projects going on
Speaker:all the time time and try to develop and
Speaker:and
Speaker:it's also a little bit about was it using
Speaker:the small things like cleaning
Speaker:hulls which know what we are doing on both
Speaker:OSHA vessels and on on on the Chester
Speaker:or the voyages vessels which give you
Speaker:some percentages if you do it regularly on fuel
Speaker:consumption. so. So there
Speaker:Is an agreement in place to also use one small
Speaker:companies with robots cleaning the house
Speaker:now and then. And it's
Speaker:also. So it's a combination of doing what's
Speaker:these small things together with the larger
Speaker:things that you're going to do tomorrow. And
Speaker:as I also probably said before,
Speaker:achieve to take the small things today
Speaker:and then also work with the largest,
Speaker:largest things, things that need to be done for what say the
Speaker:new new tender or to do tomorrow
Speaker:or if you're going to do a or a new build in the
Speaker:subsea renewable side of things. And
Speaker:then it's a little bit down to if
Speaker:you would say gonna push that. But six months
Speaker:from now or 12 months from now, what technology is available
Speaker:to them already and what do
Speaker:you think would be available during the building period
Speaker:which you can build and what, and what can you prepare for
Speaker:what's a delivery further forward.
Speaker:So excuse
Speaker:me. So it's all about what they
Speaker:have these dialogues with various parties and
Speaker:we'll say open, to also change that if
Speaker:you start a route and after 12 months
Speaker:or 18 months find out it's probably not
Speaker:what it's going to be because
Speaker:a competitor or a similar product with.
Speaker:But this much better have come up. You also need to
Speaker:be able to say okay sorry, it was very nice to
Speaker:work with you and your idea as a grammer but
Speaker:unfortunately.
Speaker:>> Noel Sevik: There was someone else with much better
Speaker:things. And of course it's also been more
Speaker:challenging in the past
Speaker:because everything is changing faster on
Speaker:a general basis. Also new
Speaker:technology and I
Speaker:also think we as a
Speaker:maritime industry have a lot to
Speaker:learn to start using
Speaker:AE and other things that we
Speaker:don't know much about but should learn us
Speaker:how to use it in our business
Speaker:with focus on how to use
Speaker:it not to revolution the world,
Speaker:but how can we use that to
Speaker:optimalize our operations, be even
Speaker:more environmentally friendlier and all these things.
Speaker:Because the maritime industry is normally quite
Speaker:conservative and
Speaker:we try to be one of those which is not
Speaker:conservative. But there are things
Speaker:that I don't know a lot about that is I think we need
Speaker:to in one way or another try to bring into our
Speaker:group to use to make us even
Speaker:more innovative than we are today.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: Yeah. And Ben, do you have some good
Speaker:examples of where there are very clear
Speaker:advantages of strengthening your
Speaker:own kind of superpower, on your
Speaker:innovations by working with entrepreneurs and
Speaker:smaller innovators. Do you have some good cases
Speaker:there?
Speaker:>> Bent Martini: Yeah, maybe. one of the things I'm Really
Speaker:proud of is if you look at
Speaker:sustainable operations and our focus on
Speaker:food waste where we partnered up with one of
Speaker:the kind of high standing chefs
Speaker:in Norway. He was
Speaker:a trainer for the Olympic Games, or
Speaker:Olympic team
Speaker:making food. And the task
Speaker:was food waste, reduce food waste
Speaker:but keep the high standard. Standard
Speaker:of the food. And we ended up with kind of the
Speaker:concept we have today where people feel that
Speaker:this is just coming into a high
Speaker:standing fine dining and
Speaker:still we have reduced with only our four
Speaker:vessels we have reducing the food
Speaker:waste by 70 tons a year
Speaker:compared to the same type of
Speaker:operation on this route.
Speaker:and that is fantastic. Which is
Speaker:The best restaurants in the world are not able to do
Speaker:that. so this is something
Speaker:fantastic as I see it
Speaker:and operating these
Speaker:vessels like yes you have a hotel,
Speaker:you have a passenger ferry, you have cargo
Speaker:vessel. because this is a very complex
Speaker:operation in so to speak. and
Speaker:whatever we are talking about when it comes to
Speaker:environmental issues, operating
Speaker:vessels that's about energy,
Speaker:and consuming energy. and
Speaker:a huge hotel. This is four of the biggest
Speaker:hotels in Norway sailing along the Norwegian
Speaker:and so all consumers on board
Speaker:we need to have control of. We need to.
Speaker:Everyone working on board the vessel needs to have kind of
Speaker:a focus on using the
Speaker:energy. But in order to help
Speaker:them we need to have an
Speaker:integrator. How do you
Speaker:actually have control of all
Speaker:consumers? how do you help
Speaker:each and one and the management on board to actually
Speaker:govern this? and then we have a
Speaker:company Norway Norwegian Electric Systems that actually
Speaker:took that kind of challenge to
Speaker:integrate to develop the
Speaker:integrator. and that is. I don't
Speaker:think anyone have done that before because
Speaker:if you look at all the makers out there they would like
Speaker:to own their kind of integrator
Speaker:themselves. But on our
Speaker:vessels Norwegian ah electric systems have
Speaker:the overall control as an integrator
Speaker:meaning that we have control and that
Speaker:is a small company in Norway
Speaker:actually doing that. and I think that
Speaker:is something of course helping us a
Speaker:lot. But also if you look
Speaker:at the small companies in
Speaker:Norway developing this
Speaker:enable also them to go out in the world actually
Speaker:to help others out there. And I know
Speaker:that Yeah.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: So would you say this gives a cruise ship kind of
Speaker:smart house capabilities?
Speaker:>> Bent Martini: Absolutely. that's the correct
Speaker:wording. That's a smart house capability.
Speaker:and it is not necessarily that
Speaker:huge investments, but
Speaker:you need to do it. You need to dare to do it.
Speaker:And if you look at all the vessels out
Speaker:there, if they
Speaker:really focus on the consumers on board a vessel,
Speaker:there's a lot of money to save, but it will
Speaker:have a huge impact on the environmental
Speaker:issues and reducing the emissions.
Speaker:So it's a, But. But I think it's It's
Speaker:a fight, internally, with a lot of
Speaker:the big makers, the need
Speaker:to actually
Speaker:accept that someone needs to
Speaker:be the integrator. and
Speaker:really in order for us to get
Speaker:control of energy consumption, we need
Speaker:help. And
Speaker:that is one of the big issues. My
Speaker:concerns when we also when in
Speaker:other companies are perverted, is that how do you actually
Speaker:get control? I can
Speaker:say that we have control, but we can develop it even
Speaker:further. And that is what we are doing every day.
Speaker:So last year, first,
Speaker:half last year we reduced consumption,
Speaker:with the vessels with 18%,
Speaker:1 8%, just
Speaker:in working with the crew, working with
Speaker:the people on board in how to actually
Speaker:optimize.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: Wow.
Speaker:>> Bent Martini: So that is extremely,
Speaker:And I wouldn't say that we, before we
Speaker:started on that project, was bad. But
Speaker:after the project maybe we were bad. But
Speaker:it creates kind of a huge motivation for the
Speaker:people on board is kind of a
Speaker:healthy competition. It's a healthy day discussing
Speaker:each with each other, vessel to vessel,
Speaker:shift to shift. And they really.
Speaker:It's a, They're very focused on this, in. And then of
Speaker:course in all aspects on board. When you are running
Speaker:the vessel into the World Heritage fjords or all
Speaker:other ports and areas where we are
Speaker:sailing with zero emissions.
Speaker:Of course, everyone understand what to do.
Speaker:If you are a chef, you know that you
Speaker:need to have finished the
Speaker:meals, before you enter the World Heritage
Speaker:Fjord, because
Speaker:suddenly you will not have any
Speaker:energy in the In the galley.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: Exactly. And so
Speaker:when we kind of basically
Speaker:visually move into the Heritage fjords, I
Speaker:mean we've been talking about
Speaker:the food waste programs, the
Speaker:energy, the whole green transition.
Speaker:I wanted to hear from you
Speaker:about your unresolved pain points. So
Speaker:I asked you to share with us and
Speaker:the audience one additional area where you have
Speaker:commitments and where you are interested in
Speaker:partnering up with entrepreneurs to power
Speaker:couple for radical solutions. And then I'm looking you
Speaker:know, more towards what other, what
Speaker:other pollution into the. To
Speaker:the fjords, that can be avoided. And also
Speaker:the part of kind of the local footprint,
Speaker:the experience and the integration and the.
Speaker:The involvement with the local
Speaker:communities, the very small communities that you
Speaker:visit en route ne.
Speaker:I can start with you if you have some parts.
Speaker:>> Noel Sevik: No, yeah, forgot a little bit that
Speaker:one.
Speaker:But of course it's
Speaker:as I say and also we have in our values
Speaker:communities is important for us. And when we have it in our
Speaker:values, it's more or less the community where we are born
Speaker:and based and Everything. But of course on the
Speaker:Havilah voyages you are visiting so many
Speaker:ports. There are so many
Speaker:suppliers, people that want to
Speaker:say get a living of what you are
Speaker:doing. And that's also for the
Speaker:group local suppliers, local
Speaker:people. We want to involve
Speaker:the communities around the coast
Speaker:because this is not only about
Speaker:for us earning money or be the best in
Speaker:class. It's about the Norwegian community
Speaker:and the coastal community. And also
Speaker:with everything going on in the world
Speaker:at the moment and the geopolitical
Speaker:situation, this is important
Speaker:as well that
Speaker:on the Havilah voyages vessels that they are following
Speaker:on and look into things that is not
Speaker:normal, especially up north,
Speaker:but it's going on all around the
Speaker:coast. So we are
Speaker:there to be facilitators
Speaker:to develop the small communities around the
Speaker:coast with our businesses and give people
Speaker:opportunities to make business on our
Speaker:business. And
Speaker:that's important for us. And also what as I said, a
Speaker:part of the value because that's how we
Speaker:have developed the community where
Speaker:we are based. I said
Speaker:several times that when you. From
Speaker:2010 to 2014 you built
Speaker:a hotel, concert hall
Speaker:and a large swimming pool
Speaker:area with several pools for
Speaker:at that stage approximately 450 million in
Speaker:a community that are living around
Speaker:10,000 people. If you ask a hedge fund
Speaker:guy in London or New York if that's reasonable
Speaker:spent money, they will say you are crazy.
Speaker:But that was done together with
Speaker:M. The
Speaker:commune and the
Speaker:business development. So
Speaker:we are in our bone that we
Speaker:need to develop the societies that we are part
Speaker:of to give it be and
Speaker:give it and let it be an attractive
Speaker:place to live. And that's also
Speaker:something we have after we went in the voyage
Speaker:try to develop on all these places you are
Speaker:visiting around the coast. And then maybe Ben can give
Speaker:some more color on it.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: Yes, thank you. And Ben, I heard some
Speaker:rumors that you are in a
Speaker:progress of sort of reinventing your
Speaker:Eco Voyager program. Can you
Speaker:elaborate on how can this bring opportunities
Speaker:for various type of entrepreneurs in the value
Speaker:chain and you know, what are the
Speaker:typical examples of innovators and
Speaker:entrepreneurs that would be in your
Speaker:scope? along the coast.
Speaker:>> Bent Martini: Yeah, of course the
Speaker:Havila Voyages or the coastal route is a part of the kind
Speaker:of Norwegian critical infrastructure like
Speaker:visiting 34 ports from Bergen to Keithnaz
Speaker:and 30 three ports back. we are always
Speaker:there. If you look at the Havilah
Speaker:voyages We have about 600 employees
Speaker:but we are creating ah additional
Speaker:3000 employees along the Norwegian
Speaker:coast. Local in the local
Speaker:communities. meaning that what we are
Speaker:consuming on board, the food we are buying
Speaker:locally. So we are creating value
Speaker:locally.
Speaker:and if you look at the
Speaker:and of course that's about having focus
Speaker:on kind of the short distance delivery of food.
Speaker:but creating value locally is
Speaker:extremely important for us with the
Speaker:concepts we have, with the food focus
Speaker:that creates also new opportunities for the
Speaker:local delivery. kind of if it's
Speaker:a small farm or whatever,
Speaker:fish farm, they will kind
Speaker:of also change their way of operating. When we
Speaker:are talking about sustainable operations,
Speaker:whether it's excursions ashore,
Speaker:we have about 70 excursions along the
Speaker:coast. delivering
Speaker:those excursions. Excursions have to deliver those
Speaker:in a sustainable way. and
Speaker:that's about our Eco
Speaker:Voyager program. Also when you are
Speaker:traveling with us, the excursions
Speaker:you should do, which we presented to
Speaker:the, to the guests. of course
Speaker:they need to be green also. so
Speaker:for example,
Speaker:if you look at
Speaker:different kind of if it's buses
Speaker:it could be ATVs or whatever they are using
Speaker:on those questions, they are not kind
Speaker:of run by diesel or gas. They are
Speaker:run by electrification or
Speaker:biogas. So that's kind of
Speaker:a part of it. and of course we are working
Speaker:together with those locally to
Speaker:develop new type of
Speaker:products. Whether that is products that we
Speaker:keep on board, sell on board
Speaker:or they provide for us
Speaker:ashore when our guests are coming, ashore.
Speaker:So the point here is that we would like
Speaker:our guests to be very much aware
Speaker:of what kind of local community
Speaker:are you visiting. what can you do when you're
Speaker:going ashore? what should you have
Speaker:focus on also when it comes to the taking
Speaker:care of the local environment. and how can
Speaker:we put value back to the local
Speaker:societies when our guests are there?
Speaker:so we have to kind of
Speaker:give back when we are sailing along the
Speaker:Norwegian coast, whether that is to have some Guests
Speaker:or our crew ashore to clean
Speaker:the shoreline.
Speaker:that's of course concepts we are doing.
Speaker:But most of all when people are
Speaker:there, they need to
Speaker:understand the locals. and the
Speaker:locals kind of have
Speaker:to feel that they're getting something back when we are doing
Speaker:this. so, but it
Speaker:takes time to actually build this up. and that
Speaker:will be the main focus going forward
Speaker:now on the ecoboy program
Speaker:from whatever you are doing on board as a
Speaker:guest that you actually are invited
Speaker:in to our
Speaker:DNA to understand our DNA, how we
Speaker:actually would like to, Why
Speaker:should you actually, save
Speaker:energy on board? How can you do it?
Speaker:how have you prepared the vessel to save energy?
Speaker:and that journey?
Speaker:and what we see that a lot of the guests
Speaker:coming, they are choosing us
Speaker:because of the
Speaker:sustainable operations. they are very
Speaker:focused, they have a lot of questions when they are
Speaker:coming. and of course we are not afraid to show
Speaker:them. And that is also part of what giving back
Speaker:is that why shouldn't you be allowed to
Speaker:see the vessel and see the inside of the
Speaker:vessel? this is kind of
Speaker:what is actually creating this. And
Speaker:I don't think that is kind of. That's not
Speaker:ordinary. When we are
Speaker:taking guests up to the bridge, the
Speaker:captain can explain for
Speaker:them what is happening.
Speaker:and other areas on board is
Speaker:also, when, when.
Speaker:When it's potentially possible we are opening up
Speaker:and showing the guests. This is actually,
Speaker:this is actually the systems. So, So.
Speaker:So it's a kind of,
Speaker:not. Not kind of a school class.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: But we have actually, we have talked about
Speaker:that in, in our first episode and we will continue
Speaker:to, to bring that message out there. because I think
Speaker:that working with bringing
Speaker:Cruise into a more sustainable era and
Speaker:future is really an
Speaker:amazing opportunity to bring people
Speaker:into a mindset transition
Speaker:experience. Because you can use the cruise ship and the
Speaker:whole experience for the crew and the
Speaker:passengers, to really
Speaker:experience this kind of floating test. But
Speaker:of journey into the future, if you
Speaker:do it right, that can truly enable people
Speaker:to bring back a new mindset,
Speaker:new perspectives, reconnect,
Speaker:them closer with nature and local
Speaker:societies in a different way than you know,
Speaker:regardless where they come from, big cities around the
Speaker:world, if they live by the sea or
Speaker:not. And, and that really brings us over
Speaker:to my last question, to you. That
Speaker:goes out to all of the talents out there because
Speaker:Citrine has a strong focus
Speaker:on what we call the tomorrow's talents
Speaker:today. and Both of you have
Speaker:touched upon this. I mean we all need great
Speaker:humans on board with us to build a future of
Speaker:cruise and I wanted to hear
Speaker:some slightly different perspectives with your
Speaker:personal hacks, advice to talents
Speaker:and other industry colleagues or to
Speaker:share a specific mindset or skill set that you
Speaker:consider key for talents who are
Speaker:eager to join the cruise pioneer
Speaker:movement with us. And I wanted
Speaker:to split it a little bit differently
Speaker:with first the owner and founder's perspective from
Speaker:you new all because we generally ask
Speaker:about advice and insight to general
Speaker:talents. But of course for you I would also love to
Speaker:hear your reflections
Speaker:and advice to established and next
Speaker:generation owners. how can the
Speaker:seniors make more room for the new generation of
Speaker:owners and how can the next
Speaker:generation come in and build the
Speaker:values and vision of the founder of the previous
Speaker:generation to create this changing environment,
Speaker:making it their own. and how can this
Speaker:also be something that truly can
Speaker:inspire the founders of today
Speaker:by sharing this mindset and
Speaker:long term thinking from those that have
Speaker:built companies before them.
Speaker:>> Noel Sevik: I think first of all it's
Speaker:important to give opportunities. That's even if it's what's
Speaker:the next generation or if it's someone
Speaker:coming into organization that they need
Speaker:to be given opportunities, they need
Speaker:to be given
Speaker:roles that give them a meaningful
Speaker:day at work or to
Speaker:do and do every day.
Speaker:And I
Speaker:think it's always difficult working between
Speaker:generations that some or at least
Speaker:from my point of view it's something that
Speaker:we used sometimes to find the
Speaker:roles between ourselves when I
Speaker:start working ashore. but
Speaker:I think that's possible as long as you have an open dialogue and
Speaker:also what say find the various
Speaker:way
Speaker:you need to give trust as I also
Speaker:mentioned earlier before, give responsibility, throw people
Speaker:on deep water because you
Speaker:learn it in two ways. Either manage to do
Speaker:what you were supposed to do or you do a
Speaker:mistake and that's fine but then learn
Speaker:from the mistakes. So next time you are thrown into deep
Speaker:water in a similar perspective, you know exactly
Speaker:what to do and ah so trust
Speaker:opportunities give people big tasks,
Speaker:people grow to get larger tasks or
Speaker:larger things to do or most
Speaker:of people do then it's also important
Speaker:to be open to take corrections. Is it family
Speaker:wise or it's other places in the organization
Speaker:because you always have to learn
Speaker:things, you don't know anything you
Speaker:still don't do when you are 55 or when you are
Speaker:75. and also
Speaker:be eager to learn from
Speaker:everyone you meet. I
Speaker:think that's, that's very important. And
Speaker:also from was a people doing totally different
Speaker:things from what you are doing. You always
Speaker:have something to learn to put in perspective as
Speaker:you can was a get in, get into your
Speaker:system or your organization
Speaker:and what they. From my
Speaker:generation perspective I think it's important
Speaker:to try to find
Speaker:out and get the input from the
Speaker:younger one of how they see things. What
Speaker:can you use of how they see things to do things
Speaker:different, do it better. Because
Speaker:I'm sure that all the things we are
Speaker:doing are not the right thing to do in a longer
Speaker:perspective to get the input from someone that see
Speaker:it on a total different engine
Speaker:that this thing you can do much better
Speaker:if you do it a little bit different.
Speaker:so I think that's
Speaker:a little bit short. And then in many ways maybe we
Speaker:Norwegian have an advantage because we are used to a flat
Speaker:structure and was a titles and
Speaker:all these things is not that important. or at least
Speaker:in our group it's not that important because it's
Speaker:more down to people what you do, what knowledge you
Speaker:have and what you can give
Speaker:the company as employee and what you
Speaker:hope you can develop yourself and
Speaker:get new opportunities inside
Speaker:the group to develop yourself as a
Speaker:person. So that was a part of our
Speaker:culture and I think that's very important and I
Speaker:think that it was much better.
Speaker:And I also think
Speaker:it's always smart to have smarter people around
Speaker:you than you are yourself because then you can just
Speaker:sit there at the top and take all the
Speaker:glance and do all the smart
Speaker:things which you get half the credit
Speaker:for.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: That's fantastic. So that's why I have
Speaker:bent
Speaker:to wrap up very like in
Speaker:short words, Noel is basically about growth,
Speaker:mindset and reverse mentoring
Speaker:really. And I think that's something that
Speaker:applies also very well for corporates and
Speaker:entrepreneurs among themselves to kind of
Speaker:have this reversed mentoring perspective,
Speaker:as we go into collaboration partnerships.
Speaker:How about you bent recruiting onwards. I
Speaker:mean you guys need a lot of great talents
Speaker:in very many different roles. What are your
Speaker:$0.05 towards like the talents and your
Speaker:potential future colleagues out there?
Speaker:>> Bent Martini: I think it's extremely important as a
Speaker:company to focus on
Speaker:diversity, and
Speaker:young people coming out from schools or What I
Speaker:say is that if you are curious
Speaker:you will come a long way. and I learned
Speaker:from many years ago that because the old
Speaker:kind of traditional leadership was that you would start to
Speaker:try, you will try to create the young ones
Speaker:in your Own picture, that
Speaker:look that we have stopped with. That that's
Speaker:good. So everyone needs to be allowed to be
Speaker:themselves. because that is actually what we are
Speaker:investing in is. Is the one
Speaker:and. And the different persons, they have
Speaker:to be allowed to be themselves and
Speaker:really grow them
Speaker:themselves are growing and then becoming
Speaker:a part of a kind of a company and a culture and m.
Speaker:Creating a culture. So for me it's like
Speaker:we have today. 40% of all
Speaker:employees are female. Female
Speaker:leaders. 50, 50 in the
Speaker:management. 50, 50 in the board of directors. We are
Speaker:focusing on growing kind of top management on board of
Speaker:vessels. More females. And the age
Speaker:is from From 18 years
Speaker:old to. To.
Speaker:Yeah. Actually the oldest one working on board,
Speaker:she is 76 years. And
Speaker:why should she stop working as long as she
Speaker:really would like to and are fit.
Speaker:So But that's creating kind
Speaker:of this atmosphere from the youngest one to the oldest
Speaker:one, that they are sharing, they
Speaker:are learning of each other. But most
Speaker:of all everyone is curious
Speaker:what is next? How can we develop together, how
Speaker:can we actually create this
Speaker:as a fantastic working arena.
Speaker:and so it's not
Speaker:a very easy question asked, but I think
Speaker:curious, curious curiosity
Speaker:is what is the drive? Is what's driving
Speaker:each one of us.
Speaker:>> Birgit Liodden: If it wasn't ah, an easy question, at least it was
Speaker:a great answer. I say
Speaker:and for those that are curious to learn
Speaker:more about the work in Havila Voyages,
Speaker:I know that we will see you, Bent and
Speaker:a few of your colleagues from the company
Speaker:at Sea Trade in Miami,
Speaker:April, so we're really looking forward to
Speaker:that. And Bent will be part of
Speaker:one of the power couple panels in the
Speaker:sustainability theater. so we are
Speaker:really looking forward to meeting live next
Speaker:time around and I just wanted to
Speaker:thank you guys so much for joining as
Speaker:guests. You are among the first and hopefully
Speaker:a growing movement of
Speaker:owners and top executives and founders that
Speaker:are joining forces, to
Speaker:really show how. How amazing the cruise industry
Speaker:is to work with, and how much can be
Speaker:done when we start sharing
Speaker:more the pioneering initiatives, the first
Speaker:mover initiatives, inspiring our
Speaker:colleagues and cross competitors, to also walk
Speaker:the same path with us. So thank you so
Speaker:much Noel and Bent, and looking forward to all of
Speaker:you guys out there. Stay tuned.
Speaker:>> Noel Sevik: Thank you, thank you.
