Murman Seafood officially opened a new high-capacity fish processing plant in Murmansk last week, with Iceland-based Valka designing and supplying the majority of its equipment.
The new plant, designed to process groundfish such as cod, is capable of processing product into both block frozen and individually-quick-frozen portions. The new plant features a number of Valka processing technologies, including water-jet cutters for pin-bone removal and portioning, various grading equipment, packing equipment, and manufacturing execution software.
“Today the most modern fish processing plant has been built in the Murmansk region within the framework of the investment quotas program. There are only a few of them [like this] in the world,” Russian Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries Petr Savchuk said during the grand opening of the facility. “The enterprise has installed the latest high-tech equipment, which will make it possible to produce high-quality products required by Russian consumers. And of course, it is important that it will also be in demand abroad.”
Russia has instituted an investment quota program granting companies that invest in new processing facilities or fishing ships additional quota for certain species – with processing plants worth five percent more quota than fishing ships.
The new facility, according to Valka, is capable of providing products on-par with the best in the market.
“The people at Murman Seafood are taking a very professional approach to starting up the new factory and we can already see the determination on having the best product quality, in the end this focus also leads to the most efficient factories,” Kristjan Kristjansson, a leading process designer for Valka and a consultant to Murman Seafood throughout the process. “I am proud to have done this project with the great people in Murman Seafood and I can already see that they will have a long-term success.”
Opening the plant during the COVID-19 pandemic was no easy task. According to Valka, the process ended up taking longer than originally expected due to difficulties posed by the pandemic. However, it has also enabled Murman Seafood to prepare in advance, allowing the processing facility to already start production of fish products.
The plant is also evidence of increased cooperation between Icelandic and Russian companies. Other Icelandic companies – including Velfag, Skaginn 3X, and Kapp – also contributed equipment to the new plant.
“Recently, we have seen new opportunities and cooperation between Icelandic and Russian companies emerge, especially in food production, and the fishery sectors, as Russia is modernising and investing in its processing facilities as well as its fishing vessels,” Ambassador of Iceland to Russia Arni Thor Sigurdsson said. “I want to congratulate Murman Seafood and Valka with the new fish processing plant, and express my hope that the Icelandic-Murmansk relations will continue to prosper in years to come.”
Photo courtesy of Valka
