Platform support vessel Viking Athene, acquired recently by Faroese salmon group Bakkafrost, will go to the MEST yard in Tórshavn to be refitted for its new role as farming support vessel (FSV) Bakkanes.
The acquisition is part of Bakkafrost’s value chain investment programme to develop farming operations in Scotland. Faroese shipyard MEST won the tender to repurpose the vessel, and work is expected to commence as soon as Bakkanes arrives in the Faroe Islands.
“We are very excited to begin this project, and we look forward to working with MEST. The project was tendered to ten shipyards in Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, Scotland, and the Faroe Islands,” said Bakkafrost operations manager Sverri Kjærbæk.
‘We have previously had great collaborations with MEST, who also repurposed our FSV Róland, and currently MEST is responsible for installing a new delousing system on board our FSV Martin. Bakkanes will be equipped with the same delousing system as Martin. We are confident that MEST will carry out the project satisfactorily.”
The project to repurpose Bakkanes is comprehensive and includes sandblasting, painting, installation of four cranes and a hawser system as well as installation of the new FLS delousing system.
A Bakkafrost crew will bring the ship from Norway to the Faroe Islands, and then the project of repurposing Bakkanes begins. The work is expected to be completed by mid-August.
