After forty-four years of fishing from Ísafjörður in north-western Iceland, a veteran trawler has been sold to new owners in the Westmann Islands.
Páll Pálsson ÍS-102 is one of a series of trawlers built in Japan for Icelandic owners in 1972-73 and has been an exceptionally successful ship. The series was among the first stern trawlers in Iceland, ushering in a new generation of technology that included the switch to storing catches in boxes instead of iced in pounds. This was later altered with the change to tubs instead of boxes. Páll Pálsson has landed around 220,000 tonnes of fish to Hraðfrystihús Gunnvör and its predecessor company over the years.
In 1988 several of the series of Japanese-built trawlers were lengthened and re-equipped in Poland.
Páll Pálsson made its last landing in Ísafjörður last month before being steamed to Reykjavík to be slipped and painted in the colours of new owners Vinnslustöðin (VSV).
Both Hraðfrystihús Gunnvör and Vinnslustöðin are expecting to take delivery soon of new vessels under construction in China, the Skipasýn-designed Breki and the new Páll Pálsson.
The original skipper, Guðjón Arnar Kristjánsson, collected Páll Pálsson from Japan in 1973 and brought it home to Iceland. He was in charge for 19 years. Kristján Jóakimsson was the skipper for another four years. Current skipper Páll Halldórsson has been on board for 22 years, and is now preparing to travel to China with the rest of the crew to fetch their new ship.
