News
Samskip's New Helgafell Joins the Fleet
Samskip took a new 11-thousand tonne vessel into service at a formal ceremony in Hamburg 25 February. The vessel, christened Helgafell, will replace the company's older vessel of the same name sailing between Iceland and Europe.
The honour of christening the new vessel fell to Arney Guðmundsdóttir, a cafeteria employee of Samskip in Iceland, who's name had been selected from among all Samskip's female employees at a special draw. Attending the festive ceremony in the Hamburg harbour last Friday were company's executives, Iceland's ambassador to Germany, the managing director of JJ Sietas and other guests.
Ms Helgafell will set out from Rotterdam on its first scheduled sailing on 1 March and is expected to dock in Reykjavík, concluding its maiden voyage, on 9 March. The vessel can transport 908 TEU container units, over 200 container units more than the former Helgafell, and has a total capacity of as much as 11,143 tonnes. The overall length is 139 metres and breadth 21 metres, and its cruising speed is up to 18.4 knots. All the members of its 11-man crew are Icelandic, but for operational reasons the vessel is registered in the Faroes.
Both m/s Helgafell and its sister ship m/s Arnarfell, which was delivered to Samskip last month, were specially designed to handle Samskip's ocean transport between Iceland and Europe. They are specially equipped for manoeuvrability in smaller harbours.
Samskip selected German shipbuilder JJ Sietas to build the vessels after extensive price comparison. Each vessel cost ISK 1.7 billion or EUR 21 million. The project was financed by HSH Nordbank. The vessels will be owned by the wharf and leased by Samskip for a 7-year period, with an option to purchase upon the expiry of the lease.
The advent of the new vessels more than doubles Samskip's transport capacity between Iceland and Europe. Further expansion of the company's fleet is planned for this summer, when its container transports m/s Akrafell and m/s Skaftafell will be replaced by larger vessels.
For further information contact:
Ásbjörn Gíslason, CEO, tel. +31 10 428 50 50.
