The board of Icelandic fishing and processing company Brim has announced investment worth €85 million in Greenlandic company Arctic Prime Fisheries.
The majority of shareholders in Arctic Prime Fisheries are Greenlandic, but Útgerðarfélag Reykjavíkur, the ownership of which is linked to Brim’s ownership, has been a shareholder since 2013 and has a 16.5% stake, while Brim will hold a further 16.5% of the shares as it becomes a shareholder.
As part of the arrangement, Arctic Prime Fisheries will purchase freezer trawler Ilivileq, which was delivered earlier this year by the Astilleros Armón yard at Gijon in Spain.
‘We believe it is prudent and will increase the value of Brim to join hands with partners in Greenland in making the most of the opportunities in developing the seafood industry in south-west and east Greenland,’ commented chairman of the Brim board Kristján Davíðsson.
‘The know-how and experience of the people at Brim and APF is a perfect platform to increase and strengthen the co-operation in the fisheries sector between these two neighbouring North Atlantic nations.’
He commented that Brim’s objective is to broaden the operational base of the company, strengthen co-operation with Arctic Prime Fisheries in Greenland in fishing and developing high-tech fish-processing and to utilise Brim’s expertise and experience in terms of corporate environmental and social responsibility. Arctic Prime Fisheries was established in 2006, operating fishing vessels and processing plants in south-western and eastern Greenland.
The company holds groundfish rights to around 10,000 tonnes of mainly cod, redfish and Greenland halibut, plus rights to roughly 18,000 tonnes of pelagic fish, mainly mackerel plus some herring.
So far the company has operated one freezer trawler and one longliner, and runs four processing plants in Qaqortoq, Narsaq and Nanortalik in south-west Greenland and Kuummiut in east Greenland.
More than two hundred independent fishermen landed their catches to Arctic Prime Fisheries in 2019 and today more than 210 such fishermen are trading with the company, 132 from the three towns in south-western Greenland and 82 from Kuummiut in eastern Greenland, as APF is the only company on the east coast of Greenland to buy fish from independent fishermen.
