ONE of Iceland's largest fishing companies is close to competing a £14-million investment in its pelagic fishing sector, despite the country's severe economic problems.
The project, totalling three billion Icelandic kronurs, has been in progress since the formal merger of the trawler firm HB Grandi and Tangi hf. It includes a new state of the art fish meal plant, which opens for business early next year and the next step will be a major renovation to an existing pelagic fish processing factory.
This latest stage will include the addition of two automatic herring filleting machines, as well as additional equipment that will allow them to be used to process mackerel better for human consumption. According to HB Grandi’s CEO Eggert Benedikt Gudmundsson, the total investment is expected to come close to ISK four billion
The news was unveiled at a meeting between key HB Grandi staff and local government figures in the port of Vopnafjördur at the weekend when Egger Benedict Gudmundsson and Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson, head of the company’s pelagic division, presented the company’s progress and future plans. This was followed by a tour of the premises, including the new fishmeal plant, the pelagic processing plant and the new fishmeal store that is under construction.The new plant will no longer use oil as a source of power, relying on pure electricity instead. Despite cutbacks in pelagic fish quotas in the past few years the meeting was told there was still a good future in this section of the catching industry.
Should people be 'stimulated' to eat white fish alternatives to cod?
