Environmental account and social economics for a new ship service from middle Norway to Denmark

Production levels from fish farming in Middle Norway are expected to increase materially over the next decades. Over half of this production is directed at the European continental market. A consortium of ports in the region (“Kysthavnalliansen”) asked TØI to compare the current road transport from Kråkøya (Rørvik) and Hitra to Europe, with a new sea route currently under consideration. Our analysis shows that in terms of environmental emissions, sea transport on this route can only compete with road transport when ships use LNG, rather than MGO. To a large extent, this is due to the relatively high sailing speed that is required to achieve two return trips per week, and the corresponding fuel use. From a standpoint of societal cost however, transport over sea leads to considerably lower external costs, amongst others by resulting in fewer accidents and less wear and tear of infrastructure