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Smyril Blue Water Boosts Capacity |
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Archives -
2007 Archive
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Written by B. Tyril
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Tuesday, 22 May 2007 |
Extending its Tórshavn offices and warehouse, Smyril Blue Water eyes new opportunities ranging from the resurgence of fish farming, through growing demand for reefer logistics, to Faroe offshore oil and gas exploration.
In a bid to beef up its transport-logistics services and further grow its share of the Faroese market for seafood exports, Smyril Blue Water — a company based on close cooperation between the shipowner Smyril Line and Danish shipping company Blue Water — is moving to extend its headquarters in Tórshavn. Looking to up its warehousing capacity and expand its offices at the central harbor area in the Faroese capital, Smyril Blue Water purchased a neighboring warehouse building for the purpose, in a deal with Strandfaraskip Landsins (SL), the public transport operator.
“Our outlook is very positive,” said Smyril Blue Water general manager Hešin Joensen. “We have seen our market share grow at a steady pace and this trend shows no sign of leveling off, neither in the Faroes nor in the North Atlantic taken as a whole. As to 2007, we expect the current resurgence in the Faroese aquaculture industry to generate business growth.”
Meanwhile, at the turn of the year 2006/2007, SBW Express — Smyril Blue Water’s airfreight and courier service division — hired new personnel to improve its offerings.
“Our Express division will now be able to work more as a separate unit with full access to our worldwide Blue Water infrastructure,” Mr Joensen said. “Blue Water has been an IATA agent since 1978 and we offer a very competitive service with regular consolidations worldwide and a global agency network.”
He added: “Also of interest is the fact that the William exploration well is set to be drilled during this year; we’ll hopefully succeed in conveying the message that some of the offshore services we offer will be relevant in the context.”
With oil and gas activity centers in Esbjerg and Aberdeen, Blue Water owns and operates an extensive transport-logistics network that comprises 44 offices in 22 countries — and a fleet of 500 trucks every day on the roads and highways of Europe — plus agents worldwide. Among the company’s other specialties: food transport, fish transport and related services; European road services, airfreight, sea freight, and logistics services.
As to the North Atlantic, Smyril Blue Water holds exclusive rights to operate cargo shipped via the Norröna, the superferry that links the Faroe Islands to Iceland, Norway, Denmark, and Scotland.
The company however works with a vast number of operators across the globe, offering everything from dry cargo to reefer transport, from worldwide sea freight including regular container services to conventional cargo, stevedoring, and more.
Reefer cargo, one of Blue Water’s niche activities, has been much highlighted in the North Atlantic.
Here, the Norröna’s roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) capacity is seen to combine perfectly with Blue Water’s fleet of reefer trucks.
“For many seafood exporters in the Faroes and Iceland, for instance, this is an unbeatable combination,” Mr Joensen said. “Our customers enjoy a unique concept of rolling cargo linking Scandinavia, Europe and the North Atlantic countries, on wheels all the way, from the shipper through to the recipient. About 130 trailers can be loaded with relative ease on board the Norröna, which translates into quite a lot of cargo. With temperature-controlled goods such as chilled or frozen seafood, using reefer trucks and the Norröna is often the fastest and safest way for the products to reach European clients. This means we have a system that offers the great advantage of a quick and secure service in an unbroken chain. The trailers we use are transported on wheels only; we use pallet wide trailers to secure stable conditions throughout the process.”
The idea, according to Mr Joensen, is to avoid exposure of the cargo during transport, whether caused by loading, unloading or anything else for that matter, and to prevent unwanted and unnecessary delays, not to mention shifts in temperature. “This is really a top quality service that rewards those keen on giving their customers the best in terms of product quality.”
According to Mr Joensen, North Atlantic cargo activities are growing in scope and frequency. “We’ve noted a remarkable increase in the route between Hanstholm and Bergen,” he said. “As to the Norröna’s other routes, we’re likewise seeing a general upward trend. In short, it’s becoming clear to seafood exporters in the North Atlantic area that we offer an unbeatable solution for transport throughout Europe.”
Again this year, Smyril Blue Water is planning to charter a ro-ro ship to complement the Norröna’s sailings. “The summer period calls for extra capacity, not least because Norröna is often too crowded with passengers during the tourism season.”
Link to pdf presentation...
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