It took five long years and ISK three billion investment to complete new fishmeal plant after HB Grandi hf merged with Tangi hf. New fishmeal plant Vopnafjordur is expected to be complete early next year, after which the next step is expected to be renovation of the pelagic processing factory. This 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.
HB Grandi’s CEO Eggert Benedikt Gudmundsson told that the total investment is expected to come close to ISK four billion. As both Eggert Benedikt Gudmundsson and Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson commented, opportunities to catch pelagic species have decreased significantly since 2005, when vessels operated by the newly merged companies caught 265,000 tonnes of blue whiting, herring and capelin, but by comparison, the company quotas for the same species this year came to a total of 63,000 tonnes, due primarily to the decision not to open the capelin season and the considerable reduction in fishing for blue whiting.
On the other hand, opportunities for mackerel have increased and this year HB Grandi’s vessels landed 18,500 tonnes of mackerel. In spite of fewer opportunities in pelagic species, Vopnafjördur has held its own better than many rural communities and there are 53 full-time HB Grandi staff at Vopnafjördur. The aim of the investment in this was to improve capacity and the quality of the finished products, while also reducing running costs and switching to a more environmentally-friendly mode of production. Among the innovations are a new boiler that has already been tested, making this the only factory of its kind in the world that uses exclusively electrical power for the production of high-quality fishmeal.
