Coronavirus Pandemic: Norway’s Hurtigruten, Color Line Lay Off Thousands
Norwegian expedition cruise operator Hurtigruten and compatriot cruiseferry company Color Line are laying off thousands of their employees due to the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
On March 16, Hurtigruten announced a further 225 layoffs of onshore workers, explaining that the tourism industry has been hit very hard by the corona crisis.
The announcement came only days after 120 workers at Hurtigruten’s offices in Norway lost their jobs.
“This is the biggest crisis we and the rest of Norwegian tourism have experienced in many decades. It is an extraordinary situation, which changes from hour to hour and absolutely affects the entire tourism industry and threatens tens of thousands of jobs across the country,” Daniel Skjeldam, CEO of Hurtigruten, said.
The company has also called for long-term measures by authorities that would ensure liquidity within the industry.
Similar measures are being implemented by Color Line as well. On Monday, the cruiseferry operator decided to temporarily lay off about 2,000 employees.
As informed, on March 16, the parliament announced the first phase of an economic stimulus package to secure salaries and employees’ rights. Anyone who is temporarily laid-off will be given their full salary up to 6G (the National Insurance basic amount) for a minimum of 20 days.
Color Line has suspended all passenger traffic operations, in line with the instructions received by the governments. With the exception of Color Line’s cargo operations, all the sources of income are gone due to the
suspended sailing operations.
“Because of this, we unfortunately must implement the use temporarily lay-off,” Trond Kleivdal, CEO of Color Line, explained.
According to Color Line, everyone will keep their insurances and those with temporary lay-off will still be employed by the company.
“The temporary lay-off may be revoked on short notice, because we wish to be ready to accelerate when the governments open for passenger traffic between Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Germany,” Kleivdal continued.
World Maritime News Staff
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