Iceland seeks support from bremenports to establish a new port

The Icelandic government, two Icelandic municipal authorities and the EFLA engineering company signed a memorandum of understanding to promote the creation of a new port in the northeast corner of Iceland.    German port management company bremenports, which manages the ports of Bremen and Bremerhaven, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Icelandic government, two Icelandic municipal authorities and the EFLA engineering company to promote the development of a new port at Finna Fjord in the northeast corner of Iceland.
   The project has been under discussion for several years and this month a delegation from the Federal Land of Bremen visited the site.
   “President Ólafur Ragnar Grimsson made it quite clear that his country has a keen interest in establishing a maritime partnership with Bremen and Bremerhaven,” Bremen Senator for Economic Affairs and Ports Martin Günthner said after a meeting with the Iceland’s head of state.
   The port has been discussed as a location for transhipment cargo moving between Asia and Europe, and according to Günthner, it offers opportunities such as a future base for installing and equipping oil and gas platforms, or as a port where natural resources from Iceland and Greenland can be stored, processed and prepared for onward transport. In addition, bremenports said Finna Fjord is a suitable location for search and rescue vessels; coast guard units; and as a harbor of refuge, for example, for cruise liners.
   “Rising temperatures and increasingly long frost-free periods are causing the sea ice to melt,” bremenports said. “Iceland’s response to the steadily improving shipping conditions is to construct a new port.”
   “The government in Reykjavik hopes that the experts from bremenports will contribute their extensive experience in port planning, port management and marine environment protection to the project over the long term,” Günthner said.
   “Investigations have been carried out – also with the help of bremenports – to establish whether it would be possible to construct a port on the fjord that is not only efficient, but which also satisfies stringent standards in terms of environmental protection and ecological sustainability,” Günthner added. “The soil conditions have been examined, meteorological stations installed and data from the meteorological records has been analyzed.”
   Overall, the findings of these initial surveys showed that the fjord was highly suitable for a sophisticated project and the port would run completely on renewable energy, he said.
   “If construction of the new port at Finna Fjord goes ahead, the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen will neither fund nor operate it,” Günthner said. “However, we wish to do all we can to provide support for our Icelandic partner during the complex planning process. This is an interesting overseas project for our port planning engineers which can generate significant earnings for bremenports.”