HB Grandi’s Vopnafjördur factory has more than doubled its production of mackerel products for human consumption this year, compared to last year’s season. Approximately 11,000 tonnes of mackerel products have been frozen at the Vopnafjördur plant, compared to around 5000 tonnes last year.
Vopnafjördur factory manager Magnús Róbertsson is very happy with this summer’s production and said that there have been no interruptions.
‘As I’ve said before, getting the blast freezer for this season has made a real difference in producing for human consumption and this has certainly been shown to have been a worthwhile investment that paid for itself this summer,’ Magnús Róbertsson said, adding that without it, it would not have been possible to process the largest grades of mackerel for human consumption. This is because the filleting machines struggle with these large fish and also because the large mackerel are too big for the pans that are used to freeze fish in horizontal plate freezers.
A total of around 15,000 tonnes of herring and mackerel products have been processed at the HB Grandi factory in Vopnafjördur this summer and autumn. Much of this summer’s emphasis was put on mackerel, but the fleet is now concentrating on herring and there have been some good landings of high-quality, good-sized herring in the last few days. Faxi RE were yesterday in Vopnafjördur while the last of its latest landing is processed. Lundey NS was expected to dock there with 530 tonnes of fish on board yesterday afternoon, and according to Magnús Róbertsson, they have herring with a good average weight of 390 grammes in the tanks. Ingunn AK is at sea in the Hérádsflói Deeps and will resume pair trawling as soon as Faxi RE arrives.
