Strandfaraskip Landsins announces that GALAXY will take over from SMYRIL starting 8 September.
GALAXY is currently laid up in Perama, Greece, after having operated the Bari-Vlorë route between Italy and Albania during last summer’s season.

This is the second time Strandfaraskip Landsins charters the GALAXY. The first was in 2017, when the vessel also replaced SMYRIL, though for a much shorter period. Longer periods of absence of the Tórshavn-Tvøroyri route’s main ferry due to docking have previously forced the public-owned Faroese ferry operator to charter tonnage from farther south to the North Atlantic.

SMYRIL’s size (138 LOA/12,650 gt.) makes it impossible to dock locally, which is why it is often sent to Fayard in Denmark. In the past, REGINA BALTICA (originally the VIKING SONG built in 1980) was also deployed on the Tórshavn–Tvøroyri route, in autumn 2010. In autumn 2019, another former Scandinavian ferry veteran, PRINCE (originally PRINSESSAN BIRGITTA, built in 1974), had to be brought up from the Mediterranean for autumn service in the North Atlantic.

In a few cases, however, Strandfaraskip Landsins has been able to find substitute tonnage within the North Atlantic region, in the form of HERJÓLFUR III. This 1992-built ferry was the main ferry on the Þorlákshöfn–Vestmannaeyjar route in Iceland until it was replaced by the new HERJÓLFUR from Crist S.A. in Poland in 2019.

Strandfaraskip Landsins states that during the charter period, GALAXY will operate with a maximum passenger capacity of 350. In addition to the 20-year class docking, SMYRIL will have two side thrusters retrofitted in the stern and three of its four auxiliary engines replaced during the stay at Fayard. According to Strandfaraskip Landsins, the ferry’s four main engines will be replaced during its next major planned docking, which is scheduled for 2028.

© Shippax