Processing heavyweight takes sole control of aquaculture sludge handler
Full solution for fish farming needs the industrial approach that Pelagia has, says former Blue Ocean Technology chairman
Fish processing and marine ingredients heavyweight Pelagia has become the sole owner of Norwegian aquaculture sludge handling expert Blue Ocean Technology (BOT).
Pelagia became the majority owner after a share issue in February and has now bought the remaining shares.
BOT supplies sustainable, compact and energy-efficient solutions for dewatering and drying aquaculture sludge, with delivered systems along large parts of the Norwegian coast and abroad. It has also come a long way in developing technology to create sustainable, profitable downstream concepts.
“We are happy to hand over the baton to Pelagia after we have built a good starting point for solving an important challenge for the industry,” said Arve Janbu Fresvik, managing partner in Momentum Partners and former chairman of Blue Ocean Technology.
“A comprehensive solution for handling sludge in the farming industry needs an industrial approach that Pelagia has the best prerequisites for success with - and we look forward to the ambitions we set for the company and the industry coming to fruition in the coming years.”
Four facilities in UK
Pelagia already supplies the aquaculture industry both with technical solutions for handling trimmings, fish guts, and dead fish, and with a contingency solution for fish in the sea. It has also established solutions both at sea and on land to handle the logistics associated with these services.
The company operates 28 facilities in Norway, United Kingdom (Grimsby; Aberdeen; Greenock; Bressay, Shetland), Ireland (Killybegs), Denmark and Ukraine.
Chief executive Egil Magne Haugstad said: “Pelagia has tremendous faith in this segment - and by now taking over all of Blue Ocean Technology, we can seamlessly integrate Blue Ocean’s technology with our logistics solutions, knowledge and networks in the industry at home and abroad. We have clear ambitions to become the preferred total supplier in the profitable and sustainable handling of aquaculture sludge - both on land and at sea.”
