In order to respond to the serious situation that has been experienced in transport matters in the Vestmanna Islands in recent weeks, the agreement on scheduled flights between the Islands and Reykjavík will be extended and the number of flights increased to two per day, starting on Thursday, April 30.
This is stated in an announcement on the Government Council’s website.
There are also hopes that it will be possible to open Landeyjahöfn again next week, if the wave and weather forecasts work.
Difficult conditions in Landeyjahöfn
In recent weeks, the situation in Landeyjahöfn has been very difficult. The harbor has been closed since January, the entry is too shallow and unusually unfavorable weather conditions have made dredging difficult. Then a malfunction occurred in Herjólfi, which means that the ship has sailed on only one engine. Repair of the machine has already started.
The situation has caused disruptions in transport, which has had a major impact on the population and business life in the Islands.
The possibility of getting another ship from abroad to carry out the dredging was investigated, but it would have taken too long to get the ship to Iceland and that way was therefore not considered likely to improve the situation. Now that the opening of Landeyjahavn is underway, the situation is as follows:
Two flights a day, every day of the week
The Ministry of Infrastructure has lobbied four times for the period of scheduled flights between the Vestmanna Islands and Reykjavík to be extended, two weeks each time, due to the situation.
It has been decided to extend the scheduled flights again and significantly increase the frequency of flights. One trip will be made tomorrow, April 29, but starting next Thursday, April 30, and until May 15, there will be flights twice a day, every day of the week.
Landeyjahöfn hopefully opened next week
According to the wave forecast, it is estimated that the dredging of Landeyjahafnar can start again in the second half of Thursday or Friday. Based on the forecast, and if nothing unexpected happens, Vegagerðin now assumes that an acceptable depth for Herjólf will be reached in the harbor on May 7th. and it will then be opened for navigation.
Improved disclosure
The Road Administration has started daily updates on the status of the dredging of Landeyjahavn on the web umferdin.is. Islanders and others who use transport to and from the Islands are encouraged to follow on the web.
Herjólfur III getting ready
It is hoped that Herjólfur III will be at sea on Tuesday, May 5. Herjólf III will then be able to sail and act as a replacement ship for Herjólf IV, which has been sailing at a reduced capacity for the past few weeks.
Big improvements with Jan de Nul
Earlier this winter, Vegagerðin signed a contract with Jan de Nul, a new contractor who will take over dredging operations in Landeyjahöfn next fall. The agreement is valid for the years 2026 to 2029. In the tender, bids were evaluated not only based on the bid amount, but also based on the technical capacity of the vessel offered for the project. Jan de Nul’s ship came out the best in that comparison.
Jan de Nul is one of the largest contracting companies in the world in this field and has powerful equipment that increases the possibility of providing better dredging services in Landeyjahöfn than previously known. In addition, the company has many dredging vessels that facilitate response, need to respond due to an unexpected serious failure, as happened this winter.
