A Russian firm is preparing to buy Faroese pelagic purse seiner Jupiter, reports Kringvarp Føroya.
Kvf.fo writes that ”shipping company Varðin P/F has had Jupiter on sale for some time, and now an agreement has been made with a Russian company”.
Jupiter is one of Varðin’s five ships; the others being Tróndur í Gøtu, Finnur Fríði, Tummas T and Høgiklettur.
Varðin P/F is also prepared to sell Høgiklettur, writes Faroese news webpage JN.fo.
JN.fo adds “that Varðin P/F is prepared to sell Jupiter and Høgiklettur due to the current uncertain circumstances.”
Established in 1985 the Faroese veteran in the pelagic fishing industry Varðin P/F is the largest exporter of pelagic goods in the country.
2017 was a difficult year for Varðin P/F. On 9 June 2017, a large fire at the Varðin Pelagic freezing plant hit the town of Tvøroyri hard. It left 150 people temporarily out of work and dramatically reduced ship traffic at the port.
However, it wasn’t long before Varðin and Skaginn 3X had reached an agreement for new factory to be built and the site was quickly cleared for construction to begin.
Later on in 2017, the Faroese Parliament then passed a bill that aimed to reform national fishery policies. The bill was met with widespread resistance by influential key players in the Faroese fishing industry, who argued that the bill would endanger their businesses.