Last weekend two new trawlers that represent an €80 million investment by Samherji’s German subsidiary DFFU were christened at the quayside in Cuxhaven, the first new fishing vessels for the company since 1990.
The traditional bottle of champagne was smashed against the plates of the new Cuxhaven NC-100 by DFFU managing director Haraldur Grétarsson’s wife Harpa Ágústsdóttir, while Berlin NC-105 was given the same treatment by Annegret Aeikens, who is married to Hermann Onko Aeikens, parliamentary state secretary with responsibility for fisheries and agriculture.
The two 81.20 metre, Rolls-Royce-designed factory trawlers were built at the Kleven Myklebust yard in Norway and both have already started fishing before they docked in Cuxhaven for the christening ceremony.
‘This is a proud day,’ said Samherji’s managing director Thorsteinn Már Baldvinsson. ‘We have christened two magnificent trawlers that demonstrate that we have faith in the future. We have been in this business since 1996 and these are our first newbuildings for Germany,’ he said and commented that their first years in Germany after acquiring DFFU were not easy.
‘Things have gone well in the last few years and we believe that this is an important step and the start of a new chapter in our fishing activities in Germany.’
DFFU managing director Haraldur Grétarsson said that these new trawlers are an important step in increasing the company’s capacity to compete, and not least in attracting competent young people to look for interesting careers at sea.
‘These are well-paid jobs and we offer the best possible working conditions. It has been highly rewarding to see how many of the people of Cuxhaven showed these new vessels an interest and came to celebrate their arrival with us,’ he said.
