The vessel was built at the Hatlø Verksted yard in Ulsteinvik in 1970 for the Hardanger Sunnhordlandske Dampskipsselskap ("Hardanger-Sunnhordland Steamship Company"). After operating as Stord from 1970, it was renamed Fusa I in 1986, and to Fusa in 1987. In 2006 HSD merged with Gaia Trafikk forming a new company called Tide. The company ferry section changed its name to Norled in 2012.[1]