Andfjord says site construction is on track

Andfjord is building a flow-through salmon farm in Kvalnes, in the Lofoten Islands. In a Q3 update, the company reported that all workstreams are on or ahead of schedule, and the waterways are close to completion.

Because the company is currently expanding its Kvalnes facility, and had no salmon production, revenue was close to zero in Q3.

The company reported a loss of NOK 15.3 million (£1.1m) in this year’s third quarter, compared to a loss of NOK 28.3 million (£2m) in the corresponding period last year.

In a construction update Andfjord said a total of 4.4 kilometres of tunnel infrastructure is being developed at Kvalnes, including an inlet waterway, tunnel infrastructure below each pool, and an outlet waterway.

Only 20 metres of the outlet waterway and approximately 450 metres of the inlet waterway are now left to be completed.

Andfjord said: “The waterways workstream also includes tunnel infrastructure below the excavated pool pits. The completed infrastructure includes eight vertical inlet shafts that will supply all the pools with fresh seawater, and six vertical outlet points - with adjacent pools sharing the same outlet.

“The horizontal sections from the pools to the outlet tunnel have also been completed. With so much work already finished, the number of machines and equipment being used for tunnel production has been scaled down.”

The waterways had reached 90% completion by Wednesday 27 November.

Andfjord CEO Martin Rasmussen said: "Although our key focus is now on the first four pools, it is worth reminding our shareholders that the inlet and outlet waterways, which are close to completion, are designed to support a future production of 40,000 tonnes of salmon at Kvalnes.

“Although this has required a sizeable upfront investment, it will make the subsequent build-out stages much less costly and with substantially lower risk.”

He added that in this stage of the Kvalnes build-out, Andfjord Salmon is completing four new pools, increasing total production capacity to 8,000 tonnes (HOG) by 2025, and developing a new harbour area.