Four months after an explosion in the engine room on board Smyril Line Cargo’s “Glyvursnes”, which claimed one life, the ro-ro cargo ship has now been put back into service following extensive repairs at the Örskov shipyard in Frederikshavn.
The cargo ship, which was built in 1999 at the Sietas shipyard in Hamburg and has a load capacity of 1,609 lane meters, set sail from Hirtshals to Thorshavn on the Faroe Islands and Iceland for the first time at the beginning of May.
The explosion occurred on January 3 in the port of Hirtshals. In the meantime, Smyril Line withdrew the ro-ro ship “Mykines” from the Rotterdam-Faroe Islands-Iceland service and temporarily took over the service of the 153 m long “Glyvursnes” from Hirtshals. The “Mykines” was later replaced by its sister ship “Arkanas”, which has been operating for Smyril Line for five years.
Founded in 1982, Smyril Line offers a regular passenger and car ferry service with the “Norröna” as well as several freight services between continental Europe and the Faroe Islands and Iceland and is one of the largest ro-ro freight ferry companies in the North Atlantic trade.
Since the end of January 2025, the Rotterdam route has been served by the ro-ro cargo vessel “Lista”, formerly “Eurocargo Catania”, chartered by Siem Industries and built by Odense Staalskibsværft A/S in 2011, on the route between Rotterdam, Tórshavn and Þorlákshöfn in Iceland.
The ro-ro carrier “Akranes”, which has been operating for Smyril Line for four years and was built in Norway in 1998 as the “Serenaden”, is a freighter around 138.5 m long and 23.1 m wide, which operates under the flag of the Faroe Islands and has been converted several times in recent years.
Smyril Line sells “Arkanes” to Spain
It has now been announced that the Spanish shipping company Fred. Olsen Cargo Express will supplement its freight traffic on the Canary Islands with the “Akranes”. Fred. Olsen Cargo Express started its logistics activities last year by acquiring two ro-ro vessels from Finnlines (“Bahía Cargo” and “Bentayga Cargo”) for pure freight traffic. From this summer, the acquired “Akranes”, renamed “Brenas Cargo”, will be the third ship to connect La Palma with the islands of Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. The vessel will focus on freight transport, mainly ro-ro cargo, offering a regular service with three weekly rotations and optimized schedules for the supply and transport of products from Isla Bonita. It will also facilitate connections to mainland Spain via the route operated by Fred Olsen in partnership with Baleària between the main islands and Huelva.
The sale of the “Akranes” at Smyril Line is another building block in the renewal of its cargo fleet, which is working hard to modernize its fleet and future-proof its operations.
Last year, Smyril Line launched two RoRo vessels designed by Danish design studio Knud E. Hansen for the first time in China. Two 190 m long ro-ro freighters, each with a capacity of 3,300 lane meters, are being built at the Chinese CIMC Raffles shipyard. After delivery, the new vessels will be added to Smyril Line’s current network on various routes in the North Atlantic to the Faroe Islands and Iceland. (CE)
