The Grandagardur area of Reykjavík is set to soon look very different now that preparations are being made to transport the ten fishmeal silos that were part of HB Grandi’s fishmeal plant to Vopnafjördur. Before the tanks are transported to the east coast, they are being extended by an additional four metres to 22 metres and their presence will make something of a difference to the look of Vopnafjördur’s harbour.
Production of fish meal and fish oil came to an end at the Reykjavík plant at the beginning of 2005 when capelin was last processed there. The company now runs fish meal plants at Akranes and Vopnafjördur, and as part of the transfer of the silos to Vopnafjördur, further improvements are also being made to the factory there.
‘We don’t have any meal silos at Vopnafjördur and instead we have used a storage facility that holds 1800 tonnes of meal in bags. We have also rented additional storage space for another 400 tonnes, as well as using the old cold store for another 500 tonnes if meal stocks build up. This way of working has often been difficult to organise, as each bag weighs 1500kg,’ said Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson, head of HB Grandi’s pelagic division. He commented that a Norwegian barge has been found to transport the meal silos in July, and that much of the other fish meal production equipment from Reykjavík will be moved to Vopnafjördur at the same time.
‘The silos are 18 metres high at the moment and the regulations require that a safety hatch is fitted to new silos. So we decided to extend the silos by four metres and to use part of the extension in each one for the hatch. This also increases the capacity. Before they held around 2000 tonnes and now the capacity will be approximately 2450 tonnes and will be an addition to our fish meal storage capacity in Vopnafjördur. There will also be a new discharging system for meal there. This is a closed system, which makes it possible to pump meal straight from storage to the hold of a freighter. Until now we have had to use trucks to take meal in bags to the quayside, where the bags are lifted aboard and the meal stowed in the hold. There are plenty of advantages with these changes, as well as which we can also blend meal easily by transferring between silos,’ said Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson.
The entire project, which was contracted for last summer, is being handled by Héðinn hf on HB Grandi’s behalf.
