Bakkafrost smolt facility expansion delivered on time and on budget

A major expansion of salmon farmer Bakkafrost’s smolt facility at Norðtoftir on the island of Borðoy in the Faroe Islands has been handed over within an agreed timescale and budget by a consortium of local contractors.

It is the first time that Faroese suppliers have established a joint body, called Nordic Aquaculture Contractors (NAC), for such a project within the aquacultural sector.

The smolt facility’s capacity has been expanded from 6,000m³ to 18,000m³ as part of Bakkafrost’s policy to grow post-smolts to 500 grams before stocking them in net pens in the Faroese fjords.

A huge challenge

“This journeyman’s test has surely passed well,” said Viggo Johannesen, managing director and partner at KJ Hydraulik, one of the companies involved.

“To build a smolt farm in the size is a huge challenge and by building this within a construction association the Faroese industry has become a wealth of experiences richer.

“We celebrate the fact that the task was solved within an association of Faroese suppliers and we hope that this will contribute to strengthen the healthy competition in constructing such projects within the aquacultural sector.”

Building contractor Kanjon is the biggest supplier within the NAC, alongside KJ, which supplies salmon net pens, feed pipes, net washers, and catamaran workboats to the aquaculture industry, along with a large variety of equipment such as cranes and engines for other sectors.

The other NAC members are RV Tøkni, TTS and Kaas Industribyg.

'Utterly satisfied'

KJ said in a press release that it had been the lead for several technical solutions, such as the generator system. It has also supplied and installed pipes, pumps, valves, and other related projects.

It said Bakkafrost was utterly satisfied with the expansion build and with all the work that has been done. Half of the 12,000m³ that the expansion has added was already in use around New Years and now that the build is finished, smolts will be put into the additional 6,000 m³ after Easter.

“Whether it is the pattern of association-work that is responsible for everything going to smoothly, I cannot say, but it can be said that each of the suppliers knows and acknowledges their own responsibility for this huge project, and then they take ownership of the project,” said Rúni Olsen, department manager of land-based smolt farming at Bakkafrost.

“This might be way better than when only one supplier is the main force of it all. At least we can say that this has worked very well and who knows, maybe we will go through with yet another project in this manner, sometime in the future.”