“These employees would certainly have taken advantage of the trip yesterday if they had known that it was not supposed to sail today. They of course had no idea that this was going to happen, as we were never consulted,” says Gerður Björk Sveinsdóttir, mayor of Vesturbyggðar, in an interview with Vísi.
She says the decision was made without any warning late last night. “We only read about this in the news media, we didn’t receive any notification until the next day when the mayor of Reykhólahrepp complained to the Road Administration.”
It was announced late last night that Baldur, who always sails scheduled cruises around Breiðafjörður, will be sent to Vestmannaeyja temporarily due to the bad situation in Landeyjahöfn. There has been a lot of disruption to transport to the Vestmanna Islands after a breakdown occurred in Herjólf and in a pump ship in Landeyjahöfn, so that Herjólf has sailed a longer route to Þorlákshafn on one engine.
According to information from Orkubú Vestfjörður, the employees in Flatey are working on an energy exchange project. They were supposed to come back to the country tomorrow, but they will be brought ashore with a trill the next evening. According to information from Ferjuleiður, which publishes Baldur, a scheduled sailing to Flateyjar was scheduled for tomorrow, Friday, but not today, Thursday. All passengers have been reimbursed and the passengers in Flatey have been arranged to land in another way.
A solution that no one is happy with
Gerður addresses the issue in a Facebook post and notes that she has a lot of sympathy for the Islanders, but points out that Baldur is not the solution. She says it is unacceptable that Baldur is taken time and time again from sailing over Breiðafjörður as if he is of no importance. This is the second time in a short time that Baldur has been sent south. Gerður says this involves a lot of inconvenience and a lot of costs, and she points out, among other things, that traveling with products to the Westfjords now takes much longer than otherwise.
But what is available?
“It has to be possible to rely on plans, and Herjólf the Third, which has been moored in Sundahöfn, is a much more suitable ship as a back-up ferry for Herjólf. The Vestmanna Islands have called for it, and I understand that it is being worked on, but that it is not seaworthy at the moment, but that it will be beneficial. That is the solution we have suggested, because Baldur is not suitable for sailing between Þorlákshavn and the Vestmanna Islands, he takes too much few passengers and too few cars, it is much better suited to Breiðafjörður. This is a solution that no one is happy with, neither us nor the people of Vestmannaey.
The news has been updated with more information from Ferjuleidir.
