People of the West Fjords travelled by sea, both to other countries and within regions and fjords. Boats were used for transport within the region. Farmers moved goods to the market towns by boat and sought their provisions in the same way. The fishing catch was transported by boat from fishing stations to farms or to the market town. The boat was the best and most convenient means of transport.

In the old days, foreign merchants transported goods to and from the country but in the 19th century Icelandic merchants purchase sailing boats and handled their own importing and exporting. The first steamship owned by an Icelander was purchased for transporting goods by Ásgeir G. Ásgeirsson the manager of the Ásgeirsverslun in Ísafjörður in 1893. The ship moved cargo between Ísafjörður and foreign ports. Prior to that the merchants had purchased a small steamship "little Ásgeir" for transporting goods between the merchant's branches in the Ísafjarðardjúp area. Little Ásgeir sailed scheduled trips around Ísafjarðardjúp and to other locations in the Ísafjörður counties for 3 decades. Later the motorboats took over sailing schedules in Ísafjarðardjúp and a public limited company was founded for the operations of a boat serving this area until the year 2000 when road improvements made it redundant.

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