News

Finance Uncovered published a story yesterday about the operations of companies affiliated with Samherji in Namibia. To a large extent, the story consists of recycled, previously published material.

No jobs were lost in the Namibian fisheries sector after Samherji-affiliated companies began operations there in 2012. Claims reported in the media yesterday, that thousands of jobs were lost, have no grounds in reality. These are the same wrongful statements Samherji corrected last year.

Samherji-affiliated companies only participated in pelagic fishing in the Namibian economic zone, and this was mainly horse mackerel. In 2011, allocation rules were changed for pelagic species in Namibia. A quarter of the pelagic fisheries quotas were

A new vessel ordered by Samherji, Vilhelm Thorsteinsson EA, was successfully launched at the Karstensens shipyard in Gdynia, Poland, on June 12th. The ship was ready for launch eight weeks ago, but because of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was not possible until now.
The vessel will replace the current Vilhelm Thorsteinsson EA 11, which arrived new in Iceland two decades ago. The new vessel's carrying capacity will be about 3,000 tonnes of chilled products.

The largest shareholders of Samherji, Ms Helga Steinunn Guðmundsdóttir, Mr Thorsteinn Már Baldvinsson, Mr Kristján Vilhelmsson and Ms Kolbrún Ingólfsdóttir, have transferred their shares in Samherji to their children. Their combined ownership consisted of 86.5% of the shares in Samherji, but they will control a 2.0% stake in the company after the changes.
After the transfer of shares, the largest shareholders in Samherji will be

Ms. Sunneva Ósk Gudmundsdóttir has been appointed quality manager for land-based fish processing at Samherji. She replaces Mr. Elvar Thorarensen, who is retiring for health reasons.
Ms. Gudmundsdóttir has a degree in fisheries science from the University of Akureyri and has worked on quality control at Samherji for the past three years. She lives in Akureyri with Mr. Omar Thorri Gunnlaugsson, and they have two children.
Quality manager for 25 years
Mr. Thorarensen has worked at Samherji throughout his career. He began in human resources but was then appointed quality manager and held that position for 25 years.

Margret EA 710, Samherji's pelagic vessel, sailed into Norðfjörður in Iceland on Monday with 2,000 tonnes of blue whiting caught south of the Faroe Islands. It was a very unusual trip because the crew of Margret EA had to wait eight days out at sea before fishing began.

Construction is currently underway at Samherji's land-based fish farming site in Grindavík. Three new sea holes have been drilled in the lava at the site.
This is a considerable investment to increase the capacity of the farm. The purpose is to ensure the water economy following last year's expansion and prepare for the next phase of expansion. At the site at Grindavík, Samherji operates both a nursery and an on-growing site for Arctic charr.

Harengus, a cargo ship owned by Samherji, is currently loading in San Vicente in Chile 4,000 tonnes of pelagic fish which will be sold in Nigeria. The vessel, which is now in charter with the company Green Sea in Belgium, sailed through the Strait of Magellan on the way west for South America and the trip was documented on video.
It seemed appropriate to document the trip as this year marks the 500th anniversary of the discoveries of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It was in October 1520 that Magellan discovered the Atlantic-Pacific passage, later named the Strait of Magellan. With this trip, Magellan led the first voyage around the globe but was unable to complete it because he passed away before it ended.

The Financial Supervisory Authority of the Central Bank of Iceland today granted Samherji Holding, a company affiliated with Samherji, an exemption from mandatory bid obligation in Eimskipafélag Íslands hf. (Eimskip). Given the current situation across financial markets, both in Iceland and the world, the conditions for exemption in the Icelandic Act on Securities Transactions are fulfilled.

Fresh seafood markets have changed drastically in just two weeks, and exports of fresh fish are only about a quarter of what they were before the Covid-19 pandemic began. There is also uncertainty about how markets will develop in the near future. These issues are raised in a letter by Mr Kristján Vilhelmsson, Samherji's managing director of ships operations, to the crews of vessels in the company's fishing fleet. Kristján encourages seafarers in the letter, saying that Samherji has always been able to rely on fishermen to deliver regardless of circumstances. He also examines the multifaceted effects the Covid-19 pandemic has had on Samherji's operations and how staff have adapted to changes that have been undertaken as a result of demands to prevent the spread of the disease.