So far this year HB Grandi’s fishmeal production plant in Vopnafjördur has received landings of 18,000 tonnes of raw material. The largest share of this was 11,000 tonnes of blue whiting that was landed over three weeks between 12th of April and the 3rd of May.
Factory manager Sveinbjörn Sigmundsson said that he is satisfied with the factory’s performance.
‘Of course the capelin ban was a blow. We only had 3000 tonnes of capelin from the research quota, as well as 1000 tonnes of pearlside to process. But it’s the blue whiting that have been of the most importance for us recently. We started production on Easter Sunday and apart from one day, production has been going at full tilt right up to the third of May,’ he said and added that production has gone very well.
The final days of blue whiting production were used to test run a new electric steam boiler at the fishmeal plant, which Sveinbjörn Sigmundsson says looks very promising.
‘Running on electricity instead of heavy fuel has no effect on the quality of the finished products or the usage rates, but we expect to see a considerable saving with these changes and it makes a difference in that it reduces emissions of greenhouse gases.’
Now the factory is undergoing its usual maintenance at the same time as the production equipment is overhauled and fine-tuned so that Sveinbjörn Sigmundsson and his team will be ready next month when the first landings of Atlanto-Scandian herring are expected.
