Faroe Business Report — The International Review of Faroe Islands Industry and Trade - Faroe Business Report — The International Review of Faroe Islands Industry and Trade

Ongoing infrastructure developments at Fuglafjörður have cold storage facility Bergfrost looking to accelerate its business growth, with hopes of getting an additional berth in order to serve two large vessels at the time if necessary.

It would be pretty impossible to imagine a cold store with a higher level of operational stability than Bergfrost. Carved into the Borgin mountain at the harbor area of Fuglafjörður, the Bergfrost cold storage tunnel is insulated by enormous layers of rock and effectively protected against essentially any potential threat.

Opened in 1996, Bergfrost has worked for a decade to build a broad customer base consisting of domestic as well as foreign ships, primarily freezer trawlers. With the local business community and port authority committed to continuous infrastructure development in order to enhance services at the harbor, Bergfrost’s new managing director, Símin Pauli Sivertsen, sounds confident with regard to the company’s business outlook.

Assuming the management of Bergfrost last September, Mr Sivertsen was recruited from his previous job in Iceland’s aquaculture industry. His predecessor Janus Rasmussen was hired to run neighboring enterprise Faroe Bunkers, a new facility established to offer heavy fuel oil.

“Iceland’s fleet of freezer trawlers is doubtlessly an interesting market segment for Bergfrost,” Mr Sivertsen comments. “We’re already serving Icelandic ships but I think there are more growth opportunities in that market.”

In addition to Faroese and Icelandic trawlers, Bergfrost likewise has an eye on vessels from Greenland, Norway, Russia, and the EU.

“Our clientele is international. What we offer is a service that is quick, flexible, and comprehensive. The Faroes is located perfectly central in the North Atlantic and Fuglafjörður is like a homeport for a large number of pelagic fishing vessels from many countries. They get everything they need here, from landing their fresh catch and unloading their frozen goods to renewing their fishing gear. With Faroe Bunkers now opening for business next door, we can offer any blend of fuel as well. So it’s convenient and it makes sense. Our clients trust us to take care of their cargo and they’ll save time and money because they’ll be able to optimize their logistics.”

In addition to keeping their frozen goods safe in a 29,000m3 giant cold store, temporary or long term on behalf of their customers, Bergfrost offers a range of services related to storage and cargo handling including stevedoring, forwarding, and customs clearance. A hundred yards from the mountain tunnel, the Cold Quay, a purpose-built terminal, allows for hassle free unloading and loading of ships of virtually any size — that is, with a draft up to 12m.

A large sorting hall and office building close to the quay facilitates sorting, storing of drygoods, and management services. The sorting hall is authorized by the governmental Food and Veterinary Agency (HFS) and houses a Border Inspection Point (BIP) station, which means transfer of third-country goods into the European Union can be handled with ease.

“You may call this a one-stop shop solution,” Sivertsen adds. But, he says, he wants to develop it further with an eye on increasing the service capacity dramatically.

“We’re seeing a great deal of development at the harbor and the Cold Quay can receive very large vessels. However we hope a new quay will be added as an extension to the existing one before too long; it would cost money but I believe it could be done relatively inexpensively as much of the groundwork has already been made. It would enable us to have two vessels docking at the same time, which would basically mean we could do a lot more business.

“Technically, we have the option of adding another tunnel section to the cold store, so there’s obviously a lot of capacity that can be gained, hopefully without too much expense.”

Bergfrost has recently been recapitalized by a group of local and regional business investors. According to Sivertsen, this will give the company more leverage in marketing, customer relations management, and customer service. He adds that the company will continue to have services available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“I think the company’s basic strategy has been good and on that level we’ll not be making too many changes. Our product is unique and we believe very strongly in it. Like any other business, however, we need to constantly develop and to improve wherever possible; for that matter, it’s time to renew some of our equipment. But we’re going to stay focused on quality management, good planning, effective communication, and close cooperation with our clients. And we’ll stay tuned to the needs of the industry.”

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