Car ferries are vital links across fjords and to islands, where are no fixed connection. There are more than one hundred car ferry connections inside Norway. Fast passenger ferries operate many places where fjords and islands make it quicker to follow the waterways than the roads; some small islands are served by water buses. Public transport by ship transported eight million passengers 273 million passenger kilometers in 2007. The Coastal Express (known as Hurtigruten) operates daily cruise ferries from Bergen to Kirkenes, calling at 35 ports. International car carrying cruiseferries operate from Southern Norway to Denmark, Germany and Sweden.