Bandero move to Reykjavik falls through before storm

The planned move of the ship Bandero from Akranes to Reykjavik did not go ahead on Monday evening, despite plans to relocate it ahead of a storm forecast for Wednesday, mbl.is reported.

“We took our boat and crew to Akranes, but Bandero had no captain, so we could not take the ship to Reykjavik and take responsibility for it and its crew. There were lots of people there whom nobody knew,” Gísli Jóhann Hallsson, chief harbor pilot at Faxaflóahafnir, a port authority, told mbl.is.

Hallsson said the ship’s lawyer had been contacted and efforts were continuing to move Bandero to Reykjavik before the storm arrives.

Bandero, a ship belonging to an organization of anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson, has been docked in Akranes since August. It came to Iceland this summer to protest and try to stop whaling in waters off the country.