Thorverk uses the Reykhólar pier non-stop all year around.
Early in the morning of July 26 it was therefore quite a shock to arrive at the pier. During the night the bulkhead on the south side of the pier had given away, and the edge of the quay with holdfasts, net board and folded seaweed bags had all disappeared into the sea. The issue was discussed at the daily morning staff meeting and a response action was planned. A boat was launched to take a better look at the situation and pictures were taken. No one had been on duty during the night, but an automated camera showed that there were two incidents. First at midnight, the south edge of the pier disappeared, and 8 hours later, during the staff meeting, a large part of the dock floor and the substrate fell into the sea. Still, the crane stood there intact just besides the cracks on the pier head. Nobody had been attending landing, but the staff was getting ready when this second slide occurred.
After inspections, meetings, notifications to the municipality, the road administration and other authorities, Thorverk set out a responce plan. The road authority then reacted quickly and called in a contractor for preliminary repairs. The gap was quickly filled with gravel from the region and compacted efficiently. Little by little, the gap was filled enough and the crane could be driven home that same evening! But the sea, high and low tide and strong currents did not give up. The next day, a large part of the preliminary filling had disappeared back into the sea.
Recently, the road construction has been preparing to renew the steel bulkhead south of the harbour. It is to be made so that larger cargo ships can dock, since a lot of export go that way to customers. Also, the facilities for the operation-devices will improve, there will be more space to turn. During this preparation, material must have been dug away that probably supported the old wall.
The material between the panels on the north and south has given way in recent decades, so that despite minor repairs, it is time to renew the entire pier-edge. Hopefully it will be expedited so that there is as little disruption to the operations as possible. The main thing is that employees are safe in all their tasks.
The algae factory, and all its staff escaped with a light shock. But judging by the pictures, it only took a few seconds for the filling, deck and steel-edges to fall into the sea. Everything went well. No one was injured and the young men who were preparing to land are all safe.
The work continues and now landing is done from another place within the pier.
