Freezer trawler Blængur sailed from Neskaupstaður yesterday after an extensive refit.
The former Freri was bought by Síldarvinnslan in 2015 and renamed Blængur NK-125. Almost a year ago was steamed to Gdansk for the first part of its refit, with a full sandblasting and paint job, a side thruster was fitted, plus the wheelhouse and accommodation were fully refurbished. The fishroom was also modified to allow a forklift to operate, with all catches to be stacked on pallets to make landing a faster process.
After returning to Iceland last year, Blængur was taken to the Slippurinn yard in Akureyri for the processing deck that had been completely stripped out in Poland to be rebuilt.
The new processing deck has now been fitted, using some equipment from Barði, which was last year converted from a freezer to operate as a fresher trawler, and additional equipment has been sourced or built at the yard.
Blængur now has an estimated handling capacity of 38 tonnes of products per day when fishing on redfish.
Skippers Bjarni Ólafur Hjálmarsson and Theodór Haraldsson are satisfied with the work that has been done on the trawler and were due to sail last night once stores had been taken on board.
They plan a week’s shakedown trip to test all of the new equipment, after which there are a few minor tasks to complete for the pallet storage system to be operational, including installing the pallet wrapping system
One of the Icelandic fleet’s veterans, Blængur was built at Pasajes in Spain in 1973 as one of a series that were among the first stern trawlers to join the Icelandic fleet. Originally Ingólfur Arnarson RE-201, it was acquired by Ögurvík in 1985, renamed Freri RE-73 and converted to a factory freezer trawler. In 2000 it was extensively refitted, lengthened by ten metres to its present 78.90 metres and fitted with a 3680kW Wärtsilä main engine.
After having been laid up for some time, the trawler was bought by Síldarvinnslan in 2015 and renamed Blængur NK-125
