Samherji ready to start work on new super fish farm
Samherji, Iceland’s largest fishing and aquaculture company, is to start work on its new salmon land farm next month.
The news was disclosed by the company chairman Baldvin Þorsteinsson (pictured) at a Deloitte maritime industry event this week.
He described the project at Reykjanes, near the Icelandic capital Reykjavik, as the group’s biggest single project.
The shovel ceremony for the first phase of the fish farm, which will be built over a number of stages, will take place on November 15.
The farm, which received broad support from public in the area last year, is expected to eventually produce 40,000 tonnes of fish a year. It will also create at least 100 full time jobs.
The chairman said that salmon consumption around the world was growing and this was presenting exciting opportunities.
“We see that our customers want a wide range of (salmon) products and salmon has now become the biggest product in most countries.”
The total investment, which includes a new power plant, is thought to be well over £250 million.
Baldvin Þorsteinsson also said the company is to renew its fishing fleet to help reduce the company’s carbon footprint and to increase value creation.
He also reminded his audience that during the past few years the Samherji group, including the fish farming division, had spent more than 100% of its profits on new investment. This included new fishing vessels and new processing facilities.
He said this investment had helped give the group a competitive advantage.
