The Port of Fuglafjørður, allegedly one of the most industrious fisheries harbors in Europe, handles half a million tonnes annually while offering high capacity services for the maritime and fishing industries.

According to official mfigures, the Port of Fugla­fjørður each year has a throughput of fish and seafood products that ranks among the largest in Europe, unloading and loading hundreds of thousands of tonnes of fish and other goods. In 2004, some 500,000 tonnes were handled through the harbor, most of which consisted in the unloading of pelagic fish to the Havsbrún fishmeal factory.

Committed to the continual development of the Port of Fuglafjørður, the municipal authorities along with local industry have invested tens of millions of DKK in construction, equipment and various installations over the past four years.

“Modern and well-functioning harbor facilities are a priority in this town,” said the mayor, Sigurð S. Sim­onsen. “Statistics indicate that our harbor is one of the largest unloading ports in Europe for fish and seafood. Last year 350,000 tonnes of raw fish and frozen seafood products were unloaded; with oil and other goods included, the total weight of unloaded goods amounted to 415,000 tonnes; the harbor shipped 85,000 tonnes of fishmeal, fish oil, salmon feed, frozen seafood and oil, making the annual throughput as much as half a million tonnes.”

Carrying a draft of 6 to 14 meters, Fuglafjørður offers an excellent natural harbor, affording secure, all-weather anchorage in the roads as well as the safe berths. Stretching around the head of a deep, horseshoe shaped fjord by the same name, the Port of Fuglafjørður plays a significant role in the pelagic fisheries of the North Atlantic. The deep, easily accessible fjord is surrounded by three steep mountains, each of them between 600 and 730 meters high. Like the rest of waters surrounding the Faroe Islands, the fjord and the adjacent seas are ice-free year round.

Nestled in the heart of the Faroes on the island of Eysturoy, the municipality of Fuglafjørður encompasses the town of Fuglafjørður, the neighbouring region of Kambsdalur and the old village of Hellur. Thanks to the hectic business activity at the harbor area, Fuglafjørður contributes a very sizeable proportion of the overall gross domestic production of the Faroe Islands. Home to Havsbrún, a large fishmeal processor and salmon feed producer, the town generates nearly 20 percent of all Faroese export according to official figures, although its 1600 inhabitants represent only 3 percent of the total population of the islands.

Mr Simonsen added: “The level of business activity at the harbor places high demands on equipment and functionality and over the past four years we have invested around 30 million krones [EUR 4.7 / USD 6.2 million] in improvements, in addition to Havsbrún’s 10 million krones investment in their fishmeal quay.”

The harbor master, Kristian Oluf Christiansen, once maintained: “In the harbor of Fuglafjørður your vessel can stay safely under all weather conditions. You will also find facilities for repairing all mechanical, hydraulic, electrical or electronic problems as well as repairs of your fishing gear. Fuglafjørður can also supply provisions, bonded goods, bunkers and more.” Mr Christiansen pointed out that Fuglafjørður has a wide harbor area with some 1,000 metres of total quay length and good mooring space.

Well accustomed to working with foreigners, the Port of Fuglafjørður each year receives several hundred foreign-flag vessels. In addition to the only fishmeal production plant in the region with a production capacity in excess of 2000 tonnes per day, there is a salmon processing facility, Faroe Islands’ largest cold store, a world-renowned trawl and purse seine manufacturer, a high capacity oil depot and a host of service providers for the maritime and fisheries industries. In connection with the cold storage facility, a new Border Inspection Point (BIP) has been established to facilitate transit of third country fish and other products into the European Union; the BIP station in Fugla­fjørður is one of three such stations in the Faroe Islands.

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