Chief executive of the line Bent Martini described the inaugural voyage as a "big day" for the company.

"A fantastic team of employees and suppliers have been working day and night since Havila Castor arrived in Bergen last week to get the ship ready, and they have passed the test with flying colours," he added.

Castor is powered by a combination of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and a battery pack of 6.1 megawatt hours, which is thought to be the world’s largest battery pack on a passenger ship.

"Delivering on our climate and environmental promises is important to us," Martini continued. "Figures from Havila Capella’s previous sailings show that we have cut CO2 emissions by more than 30% in operations so far, and we will continue to work on further reductions.

On 2 June, Castor will become the "first-ever" passenger ship to sail into the Geirangerfjord purely on battery power. "That is four years before the Norwegian government’s requirement for this type of sailing in our world heritage fjord and we are proud that we have already achieved this," Martini concluded.