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A solid cold storage solution for pelagic seafood |
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Archives -
2006 Archive
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Written by B. Tyril
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Monday, 08 May 2006 |
Offering a strategic logistics solution for frozen seafood at the heart of the North Atlantic, the Bergfrost cold storage facility is truly one of a kind —drilled deep into a mountain to secure maximum operational stability.
For domestic and international fishing vessels, not least pelagic vessels, Fuglafjörður is more than a well-known port for landing, servicing and bunkering; it also offers a high-capacity, world class cold storage facility named Bergfrost. In addition to cold storage, Bergfrost offers a wide range of management and logistics services, and with a total storage capacity of 29,000 cubic meters corresponding to approximately 7,000 tons of frozen goods, the company’s storage tunnel—drilled into a mountain at the harbor area of Fuglafjörður—offers maximum operational security.
From the sea side, the Bergfrost facility is located at the head of Fuglafjörður, an easily accessible, deep fjord that affords secure, all-weather anchorage in the roads as well as safe berth.
“Not only do we have a perfect location in the middle of the North Atlantic,” Bergfrost managing director Janus Rasmussen noted. “Our cold storage facility excels other cold storage facilities in terms of operational security, largely because of the insulating quality of the solid mountain rock.”
In practical terms, that means for instance in the event of an operational disruption, the storage temperature will remain constant regardlessly for a relatively long time, Mr Rasmussen explained.
Looking to attract Faroese, Icelandic, Russian, EU and Norwegian pelagic vessels as well as other ships carrying seafood or other frozen goods on the North Atlantic ocean, Bergfrost emphasizes its ability to offer quick and efficient services and effective solutions, highlighting the importance for sea vessels to save fishing time.
The main customer groups targeted are ships in the North Atlantic carrying frozen pelagic fish such as herring, blue whiting, capelin and mackerel.
Bergfrost’s services includes unloading, storaging, sorting, registration and weighing as well as the loading of trucks, pallet or hand-loaded containers and freighters—and, not to forget, management services.
Said Mr Rasmussen: “We offer an unbeatable service, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, whether cold storaging for shorter or longer periods, or back loading with management including local address and paperwork. For seasonal fisheries like capelin, our cold storage concept can be ideal for distributing a three-month catch evenly over a year.”
As an accentuation of easy transit, a few meters from the mountain tunnel, by the quayside, Bergfrost’s cold storage facility is complemented by the company’s large sorting hall, which is authorized by the HFS (Food, Veterinary and Environmental Agency).
The sorting hall likewise houses a BIP (Border Inspection Point) station for transfer of third-country goods into the European Union.
‘Everything a ship needs’: “We’re situated right in the middle of the fisheries,” Mr Rasmussen pointed out, “and we’re therefore able to offer a very convenient point of transit for frozen seafoods as well as other goods. And with the Faroe Islands’ excellent transport connections to world markets, by sea and by air, vessel operators—by proper planning—can use our services to save valuable time and expensive fuel.”
“We work very closely with ship agents to make sure paperwork gets completed on schedule,” Mr Rasmussen added, “and we make every effort to ensure detailed, comprehensive and timely reporting to all parties involved.”
Bergfrost customers are likewise offered to follow their cold storage inventory or back load goods online.
The port of Fuglafjörður, well accustomed to working with foreigners, receives several hundred foreign-flag vessels each year, not least those landing industrial fish at the Havsbrún fish meal and oil plant in the adjacent area of Bergfrost.
“The close proximity of the fishmeal factory is of course a huge advantage when we’re dealing with vessels that land a combination of frozen and industrial fish,” Mr Rasmussen said.
“The same can be said of the Vónin fishing gear manufacturing and servicing facility; in fact the whole environment around the harbor area is committed to servicing sea vessels around the clock seven days a week, including repairs, bunkering, or anything else for that matter.”
Accordingly, in a recent development, a group of companies including Bergfrost have moved to set up a bunkering facility for heavy fuel oil in order to serve a growing number of vessels switching to this type of fuel. “In all probability by spring next year,” Mr Rasmussen said, “Fuglafjörður will be the first port in the Faroes to offer, on a commercial basis, IFO 380 heavy fuel oil, MGO diesel oil and a blend between the two.”
For the Bergfrost cold storage facility and its clients, the heavy fuel terminal will make yet another service available.
Link to pdf presentation...
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