NEW container vessel Lagarfoss, the latest addition to the Eimskip fleet, has made her maiden call to the Port of Immingham.
She will be a regular visitor to the North East Lincolnshire port, bringing in the Icelandic and Faroese fish to Europe's Food Town, where more than 70 per cent of the UK-consumed seafood is processed.
The 875 20ft equivalent unit capacity vessel was delivered in China to her captain, Gudmundur Haraldsson, and his crew of 11 Icelanders.
She replaces vessel Selfoss on the route which sails between Reykjavik, Vestmannaeyjar and Grundartangi in Iceland, Torshavn in the Faroe Islands, Immingham, Hamburg and Rotterdam, adding a further 20 per cent capacity.
Mike Lane, managing director of Immingham based Eimskip UK, said: "This investment underlines the commitment of Eimskip to the trade between Iceland, the Faroe Islands and the Humber area.
"The building of this specialised container vessel will strengthen the transportation services for our customers in the North Atlantic. This particular route is very time sensitive due to the perishable nature of our import cargoes. We have weekly volumes of fresh fish that are delivered to the local Grimsby fish market along with increasing tonnages of fresh fish that are transported by road to Europe and also by air to the USA and China."
The vessel's deadweight is 12,200 tonnes, with an overall length of 140 metres, and beam of 23 metres. The vessel has two 45 tonne container cranes, making it well suited for the cargo in Eimskip's North Atlantic market area.
"Our export volumes to Iceland and Canada have also been showing strong growth and the delivery of the Lagarfoss will offer us much needed additional capacity," Mr Lane added. "This is a very welcome and positive development for Eimskip in our centenary year. We are now looking forward to the delivery of our second new vessel in 2015 which will be a sister ship to the Lagarfoss."
She is equipped with powerful bow and stern thrusters and features plug points for 230 refrigerated containers. She is Eimskip's seventh vessel to carry the name, with the original being the company's third vessel, in operation from 1917 to 1949.
Shipping expert Peter Baker, of Grimsby-based PRB Associates, said: "A bigger vessel certainly indicates the owners will get economies of scale. She will be carrying mostly fish and aluminium south and every day consumer goods back to Faroe and Iceland."
