Stokmarknes, Norway-based Nordlaks has said construction of its futuristic Havfarm is nearing completion in a Chinese shipyard.
The Havfarm, also known as Ocean Farm 1, is being built at the CIMC Raffles yard in Yantai. Nordlaks claims, when complete, it will be the world’s longest vessel, at 430 meters in length and 54 meters wide. If all goes according to the company’s plan, it will be capable of farming 10,000 metric tons of salmon at a time. And the fact that it effectively functions as a ship means the Havfarm will can move freely between its future home in the Norwegian fjords into the open ocean.
Although the COVID-19 outbreak caused complications in the construction process, the situation in Yantai is now “fairly normalized,” according to Nordlaks Director of Communications Lars Fredrik Martinussen
“Havfarm 1 will arrive in Norway during the summer of this year,” he said, though he added the exact time for launch of its operation in Norway “remains unclear.”
With China promoting plans to produce salmon and similar species in its own seas, the Norwegian firm behind the design of the Havfarm is getting inquiries from Chinese companies about designing fish farm units and nets, according to Torgeir Torgersen. Torgerson, the project manager at NSK Ship Design, said inquiries have been steady both about construction of similar fish farms for use in China, as well as ancillary aquaculture equipment.
“We have had preliminary discussions regarding cooperation with Chinese entities for development of fish farm units for the Chinese market, and this would be our preferred approach, rather than to use too much effort in protecting our designs,” he said. “We need to be a frontrunner to stay ahead and, as such, we also need to find expanding markets.”
Torgersen said he isn’t worried about building a cutting-edge vessel in China, despite industry concerns around intellectual property theft in the country.
“There may always be someone using or exploiting your developments, but as stated already, we need to be a frontrunner to stay ahead,” he said.
A huge capacity in steel and shipbuilding appear to have positioned China to capitalize on new aquaculture projects.
“For the Havfarm 1, an international tender process was performed, with contenders from Northern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and Asia. Very thorough cost estimates were received from all these yards or areas, however, the most competitive came from Chinese yards. This unit could have been built in any of these areas, but as normal for these projects, a cost-benefit evaluation was performed and the optimum solution for the owner was the decisive factor.”
As for the coronavirus having any impact on investor confidence and financing for similar projects, the NSK project manager thinks
“It is expected that some salmon producers will wait and ride out the storm [due to] uncertainty in sales, export, and exchange rates,” he said. “In the long-term, we are very positive that the need for seafood will be increasing and the most efficient way of producing this in a large scale is by fish-farming.”
Photo courtesy of Nordlaks
