According to NRK Nordland, the shipping company Havila Kystruten will no longer transport electrified vehicles on its route between the coastal cities of Bergen and Kirkenes. That includes hybrids, all-electric, and hydrogen vehicles like the Toyota Mirai. Havila Kystruten is one of just two companies that transport passengers and goods on the popular route.

"The decision has been taken following an external risk analysis that has been carried out for us. The conclusion of that analysis means that we have decided not to take this type of car on board due to safety reasons," said Lasse A. Vangstein, head of communications for Havila Kystruten.

The issue for Havila Kystruten is the firefighting capabilities on ships rather than the frequency of electric car fires. However, its competitor, Hurtigruten, has no such qualms.

"We have been transporting cars between all the ports for 40 years, and it is going just fine. We have no plans to stop doing that," said Hurtigruten spokesperson Martin Henriksen.

How much money Havila Kystruten will be leaving on the table is unclear. According to the company, it makes the majority of its money transporting goods and passengers. Until recently, Havila Kystruten had a monopoly on operating scheduled traffic between Bergen and Kirkenes, but that ended in 2018. It doesn't appear to be a proactive move, though, as the popularity of electric cars in Norway is one of the highest in the world.

More than half the cars sold in Norway are hybrid or all-electric. The upward trend will likely continue as the Norwegian government offers generous tax incentives for people to go electric. As well as next to no taxes, electric vehicle drivers get perks that include subsidized parking, charging, and use of toll roads, ferries, and tunnels.

We can only speculate as to why Havila Kystruten has made the decision now, but we suspect the Felicity Ace fire in the Atlantic Ocean last year may have made many shipping companies nervous.

Although the cause of that fire is still unknown, the manifest shows electrified cars were onboard, and there has been speculation that one or some of them could have been the cause.