Changes pay dividends for Shetland firm

Indeed, GSS outperformed the group’s operations in BC (NOK 4/kg) and Finnmark (NOK 13.2/kg), although was trumped by the sites in Rogaland, which achieved NOK 19.2/kg.

According to the Q3 report, which was issued this morning, the rising costs in Shetland were expected, as the third quarter tends to be the most biologically challenging in the area, although the report also reveals that the harvest volume for 2016 is likely to be 1,300 tonnes less than previously forecast.

In a bid to lower costs, the company plans to mothball a number of sites once they’ve been harvested in the final quarter of this year and the first quarter of the next.

As Sigurd Pettersen, who is due to leave the company next month, after almost three-and-a-half years as MD, told Fish Farming Expert: “We’ve changed the focus to being as profitable as possible rather than as big as possible and have close down a lot of small and sub-optimal sites. Having hatchery-produced smolts has also enabled us to shorten the marine phase of the growing cycle and we can now produce salmon of 4.5-5kg after only 12-13 months at sea.”

And he is confident that his successor, Grant Cumming, who has been with the company for 12 years, will be able to continue to build on recent improvements, which have seen the company bounce back following a severe algal bloom last August, which led to a disastrous financial performance during the last half of 2015 and the first quarter of this year.

“We’ve been working very closely together for over three years and have had an excellent cooperation – he’s fully committed to the new production strategy, but also ware that as soon as you make a plan you need to change it. It’s all about dynamic planning,” Sigurd reflects.

Meanwhile Grant is grateful for the changes that Sigurd has brought about and feels that a solid foundation has been laid.

As he explains to Fish Farming Expert: “During his time at Grieg Seafood Shetland, Sigurd has challenged the status quo. He has done this with the issues we have faced in predator control, sea lice control, water quality issues, governmental regulation and many other areas. He has been brave enough to set very challenging targets. Most of us in the organisation didn’t think we could reach them. In some cases we did and in some cases we fell short, but in each case we found that we could achieve much more than we thought was possible. He has also worked very hard to make sure all our employees believe that they can make a tangible difference to their workplace and the company performance.

“He has taught us that when we see a problem we should not say ‘someone should do something’ but rather ‘I will do something’. These are the legacies he is leaving us and these are the gifts that I will be doing my best to nurture in my new role. He will certainly be a tough act to follow and the employees of Grieg Seafood Shetland including myself will have to take up the challenge, but we have learned not to be put off by tough challenges.”