The pelagic vessel Serene slipped out of Symbister on the afternoon of 21 February, beginning her final voyage under Shetland ownership.

Ahead of the crew was a 700-mile steam to the northern Norway Scandinavian herring grounds, followed by a final call to Skagen.

Serene is currently landing around 2,000 tonnes of herring in Norway, the last cargo she will discharge under the Shetland flag. Once completed, the vessel will return to Shetland to land equipment and other items before sailing to Skagen for handover.

In Skagen, the vessel will formally transfer to Framherji of Fuglafjørður and take the name Fagraberg.

“We will take over the new Fagraberg next week, and afterwards the vessel will go into dock in Skagen where some minor updates will be carried out,” Anfinnur Olsen, owner of Framherji tells Faroese publication Fiskur.fo.

He added that the exact date for the vessel’s arrival in the Faroe Islands has not yet been confirmed but should become clear in the coming week.

“Once the ship is in dock, we will carry out a bottom inspection and other routine checks that are standard when purchasing a vessel. There is nothing unusual about this,” Olsen said.

The vessel will not immediately adopt Framherji’s dark blue livery, although repainting is planned at a later stage.

250 Million Króna Investment

The agreed sale price is reported at €34 million, equivalent to around £29 million or €34 million. The acquisition represents a significant fleet investment for the Faroese pelagic operator.

Serene was built in 2018 at Karstensens Shipyard in Skagen. The vessel measures 82 metres in length and 17.2 metres in breadth and is powered by a MAN main engine delivering approximately 10,000 horsepower.

She is configured as a pelagic trawler and is not equipped for purse seining.

Replacement of Long-Serving Fagraberg

The ‘Fagraberg’ pictured in 2014. Photo: Framherji

The newly acquired vessel will replace the existing Fagraberg in the Framherji fleet. The current Fagraberg joined the company in 2006.

That vessel was built in 1999 by West Contractors AS, measures 82 metres in length with a beam of 14 metres, and has a gross tonnage of 2,832. Her call sign is OW2400 and her IMO and MMSI numbers are 9184641 and 231091000. Her home port is Fuglafjørður.

With the arrival of the newer vessel, Framherji is effectively renewing its pelagic capacity while retaining the established Fagraberg name within the fleet.

Operational Profile in The North Atlantic

Operating in the North Atlantic Ocean, the vessel targets pelagic species including blue whiting, mackerel and herring. Catches are stored onboard in refrigerated seawater, RSW, tanks and delivered to pelagic processing factories in the Faroe Islands.

As Serene is not equipped to fish with purse seine gear, she will operate exclusively as a pelagic trawler and will not take part in capelin fishing. That quota within the Framherji fleet will instead be fished by Høgaberg.

The transfer closes the chapter for Serene under Shetland ownership and marks the beginning of a new phase under the Faroese flag as Fagraberg.