A plant expansion that forced the temporary laying off of 70 staff at Marine Harvest Ryfisk, a processor near oil-town Stavanger, has led to a near-doubling of capacity.
In January 2018, the plant was stripped of all machinery and made ready to take-on deliveries by well-boat. Some staff were kept on to work on the renovation alongside contractors.
Days, evenings and weekend work were required, and factory boss, Per Magne Gabrielsen, said that at times he thought, “This will never end”. He told newspaper, Strandbuen, that the plant was stripped down to naked concrete: old machinery was changed out and six new ones were brought in.
The Ryfisk processor can now handle 70,000 tonnes of salmon a year. That number was 42,000 t before the renovation.
“On normal days, we had earlier processed 210 t. Now capacity will go up to 300 t a day. Our efficiency won’t cut into the size of our staff. This is about increasing capacity with the staff we have,” Gabrielsen said.
Marine Harvest recently informed investors that it was expanding processing capacity worldwide, with major upgrades in Canada, China, Poland and in the US. They’ve been busy in Norway, too.
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