Salmon ahoy! Bakkafrost gets another ship-conversion feed barge
Faroese salmon farmer Bakkafrost has taken delivery of its eighth feed barge made from a converted ship.
Named Ranghamar after a place near where it will be located, the 75-metre long vessel has a capacity of 700 tonnes of salmon feed and five tonnes of feed for lumpfish.
It will be anchored at the northernmost of Bakkafrost’s two sites at Gøtuvík, Eysturoy.
A modern ship
“With this new feed barge, we have got a modern ship, which has all the necessary equipment and technology. We now have two farming sites at Gøtuvík, and thus it is necessary to make investments in equipment which meets the requirements that modern salmon farming sets,” said farming manager Oddvald Olsen.
“The new feed barge is also very suitable for this area, as the weather at Gøtuvík can be a challenge.”
Ranghamar is equipped with an automatic feeding system which can feed both salmon and lumpfish through the same feeding line. The system is remote controlled and has a camera system with surface cameras as well as underwater cameras, whereby the farmers can follow the feeding on screens at the farming station.
Future-proofed operations
Bakkafrost’s other feed barges of this type have all done very well, Olsen said.
“It was also at Gøtuvík, at the southern site, that our first feed barge of this type was anchored seven years ago, and it has done incredibly well. With this new feed barge, we have future-proofed our operations at Gøtuvík to overcome future challenges.”
Faroese firm JT Electric has supplied all the technology on board.
