News
Samskip's New Arnarfell Sets Sail
Samskip celebrated yet another major milestone in its progress on 22 January 2005, when company executives took possession of the first of two new 11,000-ton container liners built for the company by shipbuilders JJ Sietas in Hamburg. The vessel, christened Arnarfell, will replace the company's older vessel of the same name sailing between Iceland and Europe. Total cost of the two new container liners is about 42 million EUR.
It fell to Ingibjörg Kristjánsdóttir, wife of Samskip's Chairman of the Board Ólafur Ólafsson, to do the honours at a festive ceremony in the Hamburg harbour on Saturday, witnessed by the company's executives, Iceland´s Minister of Transport, the managing director of JJ Sietas and other guests.
A welcoming reception was also held in Rotterdam harbour on 24 January, before the vessel set out on its first scheduled sailing to Cuxhaven in Germany, Halmstad in Sweden, Aarhus in Denmark, Torshavn in the Faroe Islands and Iceland, where it is scheduled to dock on 1 February in Reykjavík.
The new m/s Arnarfell is considerably larger than its predecessor, with an additional capacity of over 200 container units per voyage, or a total capacity of over 900, 20-foot containers. The vessel is 138 meters in length and 21 meters wide and has a cruising speed of 18.4 knots. Although registered in the Faroes, its 11-man crew is Icelandic. All facilities aboard ship are first-class, with individual cabins complete with bathrooms for each crew member. There are accommodations for a maximum of 15 persons.
The second container liner being built for Samskip will be delivered in Hamburg on 26 February. Both vessels were especially designed for Samskip and a deal struck with JJ Sietas shipyard after extensive price comparisons. Financing of the vessels, which cost around EUR 21 million apiece, was arranged by HSH Nordbank. Samskip will lease the vessels from their German owners for at least seven years.
The advent of the new vessels completes an extensive modernisation process at Samskip, which included the official opening of the company's new headquarters in Iceland on 15 January 2005. Samskip's operations abroad have also been restructured to reinforce the basis its expansion abroad.
For further information contact:
Ásbjörn Gíslason, CEO, tel. +31 10 428 50 50.
