Síldarvinnslan’s pelagic vessel Birtingur has been sold and this week sailed from its home port of Neskaupstaður for the last time, heading for its new owners in Las Palmas. Birtingur has been bought by Polish company Atlantex and is expected to be renamed Janus once the formal handover has taken place.
In its 43 years in Síldarvinnslan’s ownership, Birtingur is reckoned to have landed 1,546,235 tonnes of fish.
Built in Norway in 1968, the ship has had a colourful history, with its Norwegian owners registering the purse seiner in Bermuda for fishing in African waters, with little success. Síldarvinnslan bought it in 1973 and named it Börkur, a name it carried until it was renamed Birtingur in 2012. During its time with Síldarvinnslan, it has fished for capelin in the Barents Sea and horse mackerel in Africa, but has always been a top catcher in home waters, not least during heavy capelin seasons.
Birtingur (then Börkur) was re-engined in 1979 and again in 1999 when a 7400hp Caterpillar was fitted. In 1998 it returned from an extensive refit in Poland where it was lengthened by 15 metres and fitted with a new whaleback, wheelhouse and accommodation, as well as new deck equipment, rigging for pelagic trawling and the holds were converted to RSW tanks with an 1800 tonne capacity, all of which left relatively little of the original vessel.
