With a thirty-year career with the Samherji cousins Thorsteinn Már Baldvinsson and Kristján Vilhelmsson behind him, the company’s manager in charge of its EU fleet operations has stepped down, fulfilling a promise to himself that he would take things easier as he hit sixty.
‘I promised myself that I’d stop sleeping with my cellphone next to me when I turned sixty,’ Óskar Ævarsson said. He has been based in Cuxhaven since 2006, where he has overseen the construction of the company’s new vessels, as well as keeping a careful eye on the fleet at work.
His role has been taken over by two staff. Engineer and electrician Pétur Thor Erlingsson has been based in Cuxhaven for the last three years, assisting Óskar Ævarsson, while Gudmundur Óli Hilmisson is making the move to Cuxhaven, having been Samherji’s quality manager since 2015.
In addition, Elisabet Yr Sveinsdóttir joined DFFU in September last year. With a degrees in business administration and in management accounting and business intelligence (MABI), her role is to lead the development and implementation of real-time data monitoring and analysis.
Thirty-year career
Óskar Ævarsson first encountered Thorsteinn Már Baldvinsson and Kristján Vilhelmsson at the Slippurin yard in Njardvik in 1989, after which he joined trawler *Hjalteyrin* as its chief engineer, and sailed as chief on a number of the company’s vessels up to 1997 when he came ashore to look after operations at the Samherji-owned Fiskimjöl & Lysi in Grindavík, which was subsequently merged to become part of Samherji.
In 2006 he and his family moved to Cuxhaven where he took over as manager of the company’s EU fleet operations, which has included overseeing the construction of a number of new vessels, as well as maintaining a close eye on the fleet’s activities.
‘These have been very good years, and it has been a privilege to have had the opportunity to take part in the *Samherji adventure*,’ he said.
‘I’ve been working with the cousins almost from the beginning and feel fortunate to have been a part of this adventure with them, along with many other good people. This time has been very enjoyable but also very demanding and I had promised myself and my wife Andrea, who has always supported me 100% and given 100% flexibility and understanding for this challenging job, that *we* would stop having to sleep with my cell phone next to me when I turned sixty. But lets see, if I know the Samherji cousins, they won’t be far away,’ he said.
Thorsteinn Már Baldvinsson and Kristján Vilhelmsson extend their gratitude to Óskar for their exceptionally good collaboration over the years.
