kystekspressen was launched on 6 june 1994 to take over operations of the fast ferries between trondheim and kristiansund. until then, the services had been operated by fosen trafikklag in sør-trøndelag and by møre og romsdal fylkesbåtar in møre og romsdal. the company was organized as a joint venture, and a through route between trondheim and kristiansund was established. the company had five ferries: "hertugsbusssen", "agdenes", "lauparen" and "ternen" were used in regular service, while "kongsbussen" was reserve. "hertugsbussen" was sold in 1996. in 2002, the two new ferries "mørejarl" and "ladejarl" were delivered; the rest of the fleet was sold, except "agdenes" that was kept as a reserve as well as serving the route to sula. the company is owned 51% by fosen trafikklag and 49% by fjord1 nordvestlandske (former møre og romsdal fylkesbåtar), with fosen trafikklag responsible for operations.