VENUS NS 150 DOCKS IN VOPNAFJÖRDUR

The latest addition to the Icelandic fleet, Venus NS 150, docked for the first time early Sunday morning at its home port of Vopnafjördur after a 3700 nautical mile delivery trip from Turkey, where it was built for HB Grandi.

In fact, Venus was at Vopnafjördur on Sunday evening, but did not tie up at the dock until Monday morning when customs officers had finished their inspection. The ship received a formal welcome at the quayside. Sirens were sounded and it can hardly have escaped anyone in Vopnafjördur that a new chapter in the region’s economic life was about to start.

Commenting on the occasion, HB Grandi CEO Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson said: ‘Venus is the first ship in the biggest newbuilding project an Icelandic fishing company has ever embarked on. A newbuilding project of this extent is something that is unique in the history of the Icelandic fishing industry. HB Grandi’s fleet was certainly in need of renewal. The fleet that would otherwise have had an average age of 33 years will shortly have been brought down to an average of eight years by 2017 when the construction programme is complete.’

This and more information about Venus can be seen in Þúfa, the company’s newsletter.