Nesskip

The company Nesskip purchased their first shipping vessel proceeding their conception in 1974 on the 1st of February. This ship was named the Suðurland, which directly translates to ‘Southland’.[13] The Suðurland was originally built in 1972, however it was converted in 1975. The conversion of the Suðurland provided the ship with qualities similar to Reefer Vessels and weighed approximately 3500 tonnes.[13] The Suðurland, proceeding its conversion in 1975, had a carrying capacity of 1790 t Deadweight tonnage (DWT), with an overall length of 73.21 meters and width of 10.47 meters⁵.

The conversion enabled the Suðurland to transport and store chilled goods, specifically salted chilled fish. The ship would transport goods from Iceland to Norway and European countries. As the Suðurland was the first ship in the Nesskip fleet, the ship was greatly responsible for establishing some of Nesskip's first shipping routes, both in Iceland and in the North Atlantic and Northern European regions. The port town of Akranes, 20 km North of Reykjavik, was largely a fishing town and became a primary port that the Suðurland transported frozen fish from as well as aluminium and some raw materials¹. During 1984, the Suðurland completed a variety of voyages between Iceland, Norway and the Iberian Peninsula totalling 21 voyages.[14] In 1986 the Suðurland stopped its operations due to a severe wreckage and subsequent sinking.[15]

The Vesturland was the second ship purchased by Nesskip in 1976.[2] The ship was originally built in the Fiskesstrand Shipyard, Norway, in 1973 for Holma hf and was named ‘Frendo Hvalsnes'.[16] The name Vesturland directly translates to ‘the Western Region’, named after the Western region of Iceland. The primary function for the Vesturland was to transport fishmeal and frozen fish from Iceland to Northern European countries, and bulk transport building materials such as steel back to Iceland. The Vesturland had a gross tonnage of 2333 tons and a DWT of 2528. Vesturland II chartered for Nesskip from 1985-1991 and was sold to Eimskip hf and renamed Urridafoss.[16] The ship was sold in 1992 again to Stevns Sea Schif and renamed again as Stevns Sea.[16]

In 1977, Nesskip purchased the company's third ship, a specialised bulk carrier named Isnes. The ship measured 95.90 meters long and had a deadweight tonnage of 4506 t making it the largest in the fleet of three.[17] The ship was built in 1967 in the Lurssen Shipyard, Germany and was first named ‘Fritre' In 1983, the ship was renamed Alberto Dormio proceeding its purchase by an Italian shipping company. As of 2015, the ship lies abandoned in the bay of Augusta in Sicily.[17]

Wilson Muuga in March 2007.

Nesskip purchased their fourth vessel in 1979 which was specialised bulk carrier named Selnes. The ship was built in 1975 in the British shipyard in Appledore. The ship measured 102.3 meters long and 15.6 meters wide and weighed 3645 tonnes with a deadweight tonnage of 5699 tonnes.[18] Following Wilson ASA’s purchasing of majority shares in Nesskip, the ship was renamed Wilson Muuga in 2004.[18] On the morning of 19th of December 2006, the ship ran aground off the Reykjanes peninsula. The ship was returning from the Grundartangi port, where it had delivered a cargo of quartz. Due to stormy weather conditions and a rough swell, a rescue attempt made 8 crewmen from the Danish Coastguard cruiser ship HDMS Triton resulted in one fatality after their after their rigid inflatable boat overturned in rough seas. Seven of the Danish crewmen where rescued by the helicopter TF-LÍF.[19] The crew of the Wilson Muuga were rescued by the Icelandic Coast Guard helicopter TF-SIF.[20] The ship was demolished in famous Alang bay, India, in 2017.[21]

The fifth ship purchased by Nesskip in the spring of 1981 and was named Akranes.[16] The Akranes was built in 1970 in Germany in the Lurssen Shipyard Vegesack and was first named Brinknes. The ship weighed approximately 4179 tonnes. The ship had a carrying capacity of approximately 7,500 tonnes and was the largest ship in the Icelandic merchant fleet at the time.[22] The purchase of Akranes increased Nesskip's transportation activities outside of Iceland and was the only Icelandic vessel to have sailed around the world in 1985. It measured 111.0 meters long and 17.10 meters wide and specialised as a bulk cargo carrier with a speed of 13.5 knots. As of 2004, the ship sails under the name Eltem and is registered under the Comoros flag.[22]

The Suðurland sank on the 24th of December in 1986.[15] The Suðurland had eleven crew members on board and a bulk cargo of 19,000 barrels of herring, en route from Iceland to Murmansk, a far North-western port city in Russia located on the Kola peninsula, that at the time was part of Soviet Russia.[27] The ship encountered rough sea conditions, battered by four days of gale-force winds and high waves. At 11:30pm on the 24th of December the captain of the Suðurland, Sigurður Sigurjónsson, issued a ‘May-day’ call, approximately 300 nautical miles (526 km) of the Faroe Islands, a North Atlantic archipelago approximately halfway between Iceland and Norway.[15][27][28] The SOS call was received by the Danish patrol ship HDMS Vædderen approximately 160 km away as well as the Icelandic Authorities. This resulted in the dispatch of a Danish Naval vessel from the Tórshavn station in the Faroe Islands, as well as the Icelandic Coast Guard ship, Tiga, and a long range British Royal Air Force (RAF) Nimrod plane.[15][27]

The Suðurland sunk shortly after midnight on the morning of the 25th of December. Three crew members were reported by the survivors to have sunk with the ship, whilst eight of the eleven crew members had made it safely onto the Suðurland's life vessel. The RAF Nimrod plane was signalled by the crew-members by flashing lights in the predawn darkness.[15] Following the reception of the SOS call, the eight crewmen were dropped a second life raft equipped with rations, water radios and flares from the RAF Nimrod reconnaissance plane at the daybreak of the 25th of December. Five of the eight crewmen successfully transferred themselves onto the new life vessel, however three crewmen had died during the night.[29][28]

The five crewmen were rescued by a Lynx helicopter from the Vædderen 12 hours after the mayday call was sent out and were flown to the HDMS Vædderen that was inbound to the Suðurland. The five crew-members were treated for shock and hypothermia on board the HDMS Vædderen and were taken to Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands. The five surviving crew-members were deemed to be “very lucky people” by the Lt. David Burnett of the Royal Air Force.[15][28]