A court case is underway to resolve a row over the construction of a land-based salmon plant in Norway – the first in the country.
Fredrikstad Seafoods is suing Gråkjær, as well as the Swedish geotechnician InHouse Tech and If Skadeförsäkring over delays to the building of the plant.
It is alleged to have begun over design errors, according to the CEO of Fredrikstad Seafood’s parent company Nordic Aquafarms, Erik Heim, who spoke to Salmon Business in 2017.
Fredrikstad Seafoods believes Gråkjær was responsible for the design error, and is demanding more than €13 million in compensation.
“A lawsuit is underway against a contractor Fredrikstad Seafoods has been very dissatisfied with,” said the current CEO of Nordic Aquafarms, Bernt-Olav Røttingsnes. He does not wish to comment further.
Gråkjær meanwhile is seeking more than €3 million in compensation from Fredrikstad Seafoods. It does not want to comment while proceedings are live, but its lawyer, Johnny Johansen, said: “The problems in this project show that it has failed in the interface between the execution of the basic work and the design of the foundations for the construction work.
“Misunderstandings have arisen between the players, and this is the reason why it is necessary to redesign the foundation solution. GK maintains that FS as a builder has not provided a satisfactory handling of the interface between the contracts, and that FS has not complied with its commitment to coordinate the actors on the project.”
