New pelagic vessel delivered to Samherji

Vilhelm Thorsteinsson EA 11, the new pelagic fishing vessel built for Samherji, has sailed into Eyjafjördur, Iceland for the first time.

Replacing Samherji’s older Vilhelm Thorsteinsson EA 11, the new 89-meter-long and 16.6-meter-wide vessel’s 13 cooling tanks have a combined fish carrying capacity well in excess of 3,000 metric tons (MT).

It was designed and built by the Karstensen shipyard in Skagen, Denmark, following the signing of a contract in September 2018.

Samherji Managing Director of Ships Operations Kristjan Vilhelmsson said the large vessel houses all of the latest technology available for handling catches.

“A vessel like this, which has both a trawl and a seine, has a variable use of engine power, so we have two engines in the ship. On the voyage home, we only used one of them, and in those conditions, the ship uses much less fuel,” Vilhelmsson said.

Samherji CEO Thorsteinn Mar Baldvinsson, who sailed with the ship from Skagen to Iceland, said the company knew it could count on the Karstensen shipyard to build a vessel in line with its high expectations, as well as the members of its own staff involved in the process.

“We decided to entrust this task to the Karstensen shipyard. The ship’s main designers work at the shipyard, but Samherji’s staff [have] been involved in this process with their ideas, for example, regarding energy efficiency. Therefore, we can say that the vessel is the result of a collaboration between Karstensens and our staff,” Baldvinsson said.

The vessel’s first fishing trip is scheduled for Thursday, 8 April.

Vilhelm Thorsteinsson is the latest upgrade made by Samherji. The company has enacted an investment plan, spurring the development of new vessels, equipment, and technology. Last year, it opened its new high-tech processing plant in Dalvik, and also completely renovated its whitefish processing facility at Akureyi.

Renewals of this kind in the Icelandic fisheries sector must take place regularly so that companies in the industry maintain their competitiveness, the company stated in a press release.

Photo courtesy of Haukur Arnar Gunnarsson