Government offers 25 million kroner to help island ferries

DR reports that the government, the Red-Green Alliance and the Alternative will provide 25 million kroner this year to help municipal island ferries cope with rising fuel costs.

The money will be distributed according to each ferry’s fuel consumption. Many small islands expect million-kroner shortfalls in their budgets as fuel prices rise and fixed-price agreements that have protected ferry operators expire.

The municipal ferry operator on Samsø expects to pay an extra 650,000 kroner a month for fuel once its current agreements end, DR reported.

In a statement, newly appointed Minister for Urban, Rural and Transport Affairs Karina Lorentzen Dehnhardt of SF said the support was intended to prevent unexpectedly large bills from hitting the ferries too hard. “The ferries are the lifeline of our islands, and high fuel prices are creating major challenges,” she said.

Lars Hansen, chair of the Small Islands Ferry Companies association, previously warned that high prices would cause financial problems on many islands. Operators had tried to protect their budgets with fixed-price agreements, he said, but prices on the world market kept rising.

DR said it was seeking comment from the association’s chair and Samsø mayor Per Urban Olsen of the Conservative People’s Party.