Access and security
Pier access is applied for, approved and gated
The quay and its access roads are private property and an approved ISPS port facility. Screening is ship-side; the port controls the landward boundary. Every vehicle carrying cruise guests on the pier is registered, with driver and plate, before it arrives.
Updated
What the facility covers
The port facility is the cruise pier, the tender pier, the access roads serving them and the staging area where coaches wait — private property owned by Skjolden Cruisekai AS. It does not extend to hotels, restaurants, shops or other businesses in the village, which nothing on this page governs.
Security is administered under the ISPS Code as implemented in Norwegian law through the regulations on port facility security (forskrift om sikring av havneanlegg), and quay access and commercial use under the Harbours and Fairways Act (havne- og farvannsloven). Incidents are documented and may be referred to the police, to Kystverket, and to the vessel's agent and line.
Ship security
Screening and the Declaration of Security
The facility operates at security level 1. A Declaration of Security is agreed and signed between ship and facility for each call, normally circulated by the agent with the pre-arrival notice. The port asks the ship to share its relevant security documentation in advance; what each side undertakes is in the ISPS obligations in the terms.
Passenger screening is ship-side: guests are cleared by the line's own credential system, and the port verifies credentials and identification at the landward boundary. Guests who cannot be cleared are escorted back to the gangway rather than turned out into the village.
An ISPS security guard is posted on the tender pier throughout any tender operation. On pier calls the gate and the quay apron are staffed for the duration of the call.
The Port Facility Security Officer is the contact point for anything security-related, before or during the call: Viggo Sundvold, Port Director, PFSO and PSO, viggo@skjoldenport.com, +47 458 98 229. Halvard Johan Bolstad is Assistant PFSO and covers the same ground — halvard@skjoldenport.com.
How the boundary works
The gate reads plates, not intentions
Vehicle access runs through an automatic number-plate recognition gate. There is no list at a window and no one to talk to at the barrier: the gate compares the plate in front of it against the plates registered for that day, and opens or does not.
For the ship's own programme the plates come from the bus list — deadlines below. For everyone else, from the Pier Access Application. Both end as a registration number in the day's list. This gate admits vehicles; guests cross the boundary through the three shore gates.
Driver names and registration numbers are held for gate access and for reaching the driver during the call. They are not published.
The gate replaced an open road in the rebuild before the 2026 season — when the plate-recognition gate went in.
The barrier is physical and there is no second road. A coach without an approved plate cannot reach the quay at all — the nearest place it can legally pick up cruise guests is the centre of Skjolden, about 1200 m away, and independent guests walk out to meet it.
When the vehicle changes on the day
A coach breaks down, a driver is swapped, a spare comes out of the depot. The port would rather hear it than discover it at the barrier.
- Send the new registration number, and the driver's name and mobile number, to the same address the original list came from — the ship's programme to shorex@skjoldenport.com, a third-party vehicle to post@skjoldenport.com.
- Say which group or approved window it replaces. A plate with no slot behind it is not admitted.
- The approval transfers to the substitute — it is the plate that changes, not the permission.
- If the call has already started, telephone rather than email: +47 458 98 229.
For coaches, operators and DMCs
Pier Access Application
Excursions sold by the cruise line are operated locally by Skjolden Explore. Any other coach, minibus or car collecting or setting down cruise guests on the pier needs written approval before the call. Local transport suppliers are given priority: pier capacity is finite, and the port allocates it to operators based in the valley first.
- Apply in writing, at least seven days before the call. To post@skjoldenport.com, stating ship and date.
- Give the details the gate needs. Operator and head-office contact with name, telephone and email; driver name and mobile number; vehicle registration number and seat capacity; intended times. The plate is loaded into the ANPR gate — without it there is no access, whatever else is approved.
- Receive written approval and an invoice. The approval states the time window you may use, set against the ship's own programme and the rest of that day's traffic.
- Pay in full, at least three working days before the call. Access is not released against an unpaid invoice.
- On the day, keep to the window. Port staff direct movements on the quay, and their instructions take precedence over it.
Fees
Charged per vehicle and per call, in three bands by seat capacity: nine seats or fewer; 10 to 29 seats; 30 seats or more. Payable in full before arrival, and unauthorised entry carries a penalty in the same three bands.
Rates for visiting operators are provided on application.
Foreign-registered coaches
In addition to the application above, documented in writing before arrival:
- Community licence (fellesskapsløyve), with a certified copy issued for the vehicle
- Written confirmation that the operation stays within EEA cabotage limits — a maximum of 20 consecutive days, and 30 days per calendar year — or a Norwegian turvognløyve
- Written confirmation that drivers are paid at or above the generally applicable Norwegian minimum wage for the sector, and that the posting is reported to the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority (Arbeidstilsynet)
- The vehicle registration number, for the gate system
The port checks these before approval, but does not act as an authority on cabotage or on pay and working conditions; compliance stays with the operator.
On the quay
Vehicle rules
A working surface with a gangway on one side and guests crossing it both ways all day. The coach standing area sits 70–100 m from the gangway.
Timing
- No approved vehicle enters the quay earlier than one hour after the vessel is alongside.
- No vehicle movements on the quay between 12:00 and 13:00.
- Third-party coaches do not move on the pier while the ship's own programme is boarding or returning; the usable window is in the written approval.
- Further restrictions may apply, depending on the ship's programme, tender operations and the rest of that day's traffic.
Not permitted without written approval
- Entry onto the quay, the tender pier or the access roads.
- Commercial activity aimed at cruise guests on the pier — collection, set-down, sales or excursions.
- Arrival ahead of the approved time — early vehicles block the dispatch lanes and are turned away.
- Obstructing or threatening port staff, or refusing to leave the facility when instructed.
On the quay, the instruction of port staff overrides everything written here and in any approval: they are the ones who can see the operation move.
Before the call
What the port needs, and when
These deadlines apply to the ship's own excursion programme as well as to approved third-party operators.
| Item | Deadline | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Preliminary numbers | Monthly until four weeks before the call, then weekly | shorex@skjoldenport.com |
| Final numbers | 24 hours before arrival | shorex@skjoldenport.com |
| Cancellation | 24 hours before arrival | shorex@skjoldenport.com |
| Bus list | Driver names and registration plates several days in advance — plates are loaded into the ANPR gate | shorex@skjoldenport.com |
| Pier Access Application | Seven days before arrival; fee settled three working days before arrival | post@skjoldenport.com |
| Change of vehicle or driver | As soon as it is known, and before the vehicle leaves for the port | The address the original list came from |
Accessibility
A wheelchair from gangway to coach
The cruise pier is wheelchair accessible with accessible facilities, as is the Fjordstova visitor centre, and the route from the gangway to the coach stand and into the village is level and paved. One part is not: the exit from the tender gangway area leads onto a gravel apron with a step up.
On calls at anchor, transfer to and from the tender normally requires assistance and depends on the ship's tender arrangements and the weather in the bay. Flag guests who will need help in advance, so the port can staff the tender pier accordingly.
Accessibility ashore is confirmed excursion by excursion: a coach tour may be accessible to guests who can board and leave the coach, while the walking route at the site is not. The path at Breheimsenteret is not wheelchair accessible.
The port holds no standing confirmation of wheelchair-accessible taxi or coach capacity in the valley, and will not claim one it cannot keep. Requests for accessible transport should reach shorex@skjoldenport.com early in the planning, not on the day, so the answer is a real one.
Getting around
Transport at the quay
No public transport at the quay. Local buses run from the village centre on a rural timetable not built around ship calls. Taxis must be pre-booked: capacity in Luster is small, and an unbooked taxi is unlikely at short notice.
| From the pier | Distance | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Coach standing area | 70–100 m | From the gangway, level and paved, behind the port's own gate |
| Village centre | 1200 m | Paved walkway, step-free |
| Sogndal Haukåsen (SOG) | 70 km | Nearest airport |
| Lærdal | 95 km | Nearest hospital |
| Taxi | +47 57 68 16 20 | Must be pre-booked. Limited local capacity. |
For medical appointments the port books the clinic and the taxi itself — see the technical page. Emergency numbers in Norway: 113 for ambulance, 112 for police, 110 for fire.
Routing
Who to write to
Access questions split three ways, and sending one to the wrong place is the most common reason an approval arrives late.
| Mailbox | What it is for |
|---|---|
| ships@skjoldenport.com | Berth requests, call bookings, amendments and cancellations. |
| shorex@skjoldenport.com | Shore excursion programmes, capacity, numbers and tour lists. |
| post@skjoldenport.com | Everything else, and anything you are unsure where to send. |
- Viggo Sundvold — Port Director, PFSO and PSO
- The port itself: security, infrastructure, tariff and everything ISPS. viggo@skjoldenport.com · +47 458 98 229
- Christian Hellumsand — Shorex Manager & Dispatch
- The shore programme and the transport that delivers it — coaches, guides, dispatch on the pier. christian@skjoldenport.com · +47 949 89 908
- Halvard Johan Bolstad — Booking Manager and Assistant PFSO
- Call bookings and berth requests, and port security alongside the Port Director. halvard@skjoldenport.com
Asked about access
We are a tour operator with our own coach and guide. Can we access the pier to collect cruise guests?
Only with written approval in advance: a Pier Access Application to post@skjoldenport.com at least seven days before the call, with driver name and vehicle registration number. The plate is loaded into the ANPR gate, and an unregistered plate is not admitted. Local suppliers have priority, foreign-registered coaches must document Norwegian cabotage compliance, and the access fee is settled before arrival.
Our coach has been changed on the morning of the call. Will the new one get through the gate?
Not until the plate is registered. Send the new registration number with the driver's name and mobile number, and say which group or approved window it replaces: the ship's own programme to shorex@skjoldenport.com, a third-party vehicle to post@skjoldenport.com. The approval transfers to the substitute — it is the plate that changes, not the permission. If the call has started, telephone +47 458 98 229.