The Slippurinn yard in Iceland’s northern port of Akureyri gets busy in the spring, as the downtime that traditionally occurs for the pelagic fleet between the end of the capelin fishery and the opening of the mackerel season is refit time.
This last month has seen a hive of activity, with pelagic vessel Jóna Eðvalds spending three weeks at the yard for a complete paint job, as well as the thrusters overhauled, the main shaft pulled and repairs carried out to the steering gear.
Jóna Eðvalds was followed by Sigurður and then Bjarni Ólafsson, and after the Seamen’s Day break in early June, the pelagic fleet began to make its way out to start searching for mackerel.
The yard has also carried out maintenance on dredging vessel Pétur Mikli and barge Reynir, both owned by Björgun, and Laxa’s salmon farm tender Nøtte was also at the yard for a propeller and steering gear overhaul.
Siglufjörður factory trawler Sólberg was in dry dock for a its hull and refrigerated fishroom to be painted.
‘It’s a real advantage that it’s possible to take such a large ship into the dry dock so close to our home port,‘ said Rammi’s fleet manager Ragnar Aðalsteinsson.
‘The changes made on board have all been successful and Slippurinn finished the work on time, which is very important to us.’
Foreign freezer trawlers Polonus and Angunnguaq II have also been at the yard for some time and are expected to be back at sea shortly.
