Innherredsferja

In 2005, the company was taken over by Fosen Trafikklag, after the state decided that the route would be subject to public service obligation.

The initiative for a cross-fjord ferry services was taken by Arthur Selvig, leader of the merchants' association in Levanger.

[1] State funding of 105,000 kr was granted to build ferry quays at Hokstad, Levanger and Venneshamn.

The committee decided that they wanted a ferry similar to one delivered by Moen & Sønns Båtbyggeri which was at the time stationed in Trondheim, costing NOK 450,000.

At Vangshylla, there were buses operated by Fylkesbilene i Nord-Trøndelag to Steinkjer Municipality and Røra Station.

A new ferry, Innherredsferja II, was ordered from Ulstein Mekaniske Verksted, and entered service on 1 August 1962.

The administration was also in the process of building a road from Kjerringvik to Venneshamn, which would allow the ferry to drop that service.

At the same time, the service was upgraded to a national road connection, and the full responsibility for funding was transferred to the ministry.

The new ferry was similar to Innherredsferja II; it was built in Kristiansund for NOK 1,555,000 and originally named Skarnsund.

At the same time, Fremverran and Venneshamn were transferred from the municipality of Verran to Mosvik, while Ytterøy, Skogn and Frol merged with Levanger.

Cars often had to wait, and if the ferry sailed with full capacity, there was no room for passengers to leave their vehicles.

This resulted in the acquisition of the second-hand ferry Mosvik from Bergen, with a capacity of 24 cars, which entered service starting 9 December 1982.

The order for Skarnsund II, costing NOK 27 million, was signed in December 1987, and put into service in 1988.

[8] The first meeting of local commercial and political interests to establish a bridge across Skarnsund was held in 1972.

[12] The bridge cost NOK 200 million,[13] and was opened by King Harald V on 19 December 1991, after he had taken the last ferry across the fjord.

In its last year of operation, the Skarnsund service carried 267,894 people, 108,482 cars, 13,878 trucks, 840 buses and 312 motorcycles.

[14] In 1992, the annual meeting had to be postponed due to a ferry strike, which prevented the shareholders from Ytterøy attending.

Normally the service was not chosen to be subject to strikes due to the high regularity needed by the chicken manufacturer Trønderkylling, who would otherwise have to proceed with unnecessary slaughtering of animals.

At the same time, Innherredsferja and Fosen Trafikklag amended their agreement, whereby Ytterøy, stationed at Levanger, became the shared reserve ferry.

From 1 January 2003, the Levanger–Hokstad Ferry was one of six services which were part of a national test project where the fees for cars were increased, while passengers traveled free.

The terminal was 160 square metres (1,700 sq ft) in two stories and cost NOK 1.8 million.

Following this, a meeting was held on Ytterøy, where Fosen succeeded in securing a sufficient number of shares from the private owners to purchase the entire company.

In the initial contract proposal from the Public Roads Administration, it was considered acceptable that Ytterøy could be without a ferry service for up to 24 hours, should there be technical difficulties with the vessel.

After massive local protests—arguing that Brekstad residents had the option to take the Flakk–Rørvik Ferry—the Ytterøy this delay was reduced to 2 hours and it was specified that the reserve ferry had to be stationed at Levanger.

In 2005, the Public Roads Administration declared that Nor-Ferjer, a joint venture between Stavangerske and Hardanger Sunnhordlandske Dampskipsselskap had won the bid.

Innherredsferja continued to operate until their concession ran out, after which Ytterøy II and the terminal in Levanger were sold.

[20] The Vangshylla–Kjerringvik Ferry connected the municipalities of Inderøy and Mosvik across the sound Skarnsund, at the narrowest point of the Trondheimsfjord.

The ferry has up to eleven daily round trips, with the crossing taking 30 minutes on the 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) stretch.