At the signing of the agreement in Kaskinen City Hall. From the left: Anders Granfors and Jonathan Hast, owners of Meitmeal, Ragnar Sverrisson, CEO of HPP Solutions, Elín Flygenring, Iceland‘s Ambassador to Finland and Pétur Jakob Pétursson, Marketing and Sales Manager of HPP Solutions.
Monday, February 28, the Finnish company Meitmeal signed an agreement for the purchase and installation of an HPP Solutions Protein Factory for 700 million ISK (5,5 million USD, 5 million EUR).
HPP Solutions is an independent subsidiary of the Icelandic engineering firm Héðinn. Its Protein Factory is based on Icelandic engineering and ingenuity and is the product of ten years of research and development by Héðinn. Its first version was installed in 2017 onboard the trawler Sólberg ÓF-1, operated by Rammi hf.
HPP Solutions was spun off as an independent company at the start of this year. In recent years different versions of its Protein Factory have been sold to various countries outside Iceland, both to fishing companies and businesses engaged in land processing. Their combined export value, including the recent sale to Finland, now exceeds seven billion Icelandic Króna (55 million USD/50 million EUR).
Big news in Finland
The HPP Protein Factory which will be shipped to Finland is designed for land processing. It is headed to the harbour town of Kaskinen on the Western Coast, one of Finland‘s primary fishing ports since its founding in the 18th century. Recently the municipality, which is one of the smallest in the country, has recently come in for hard times. It suffered badly from the closing of a large paper mill in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, which left a third of its population unemployed in one blow.
The Protein Factory will be located on-premises which have stood empty in recent years. The project is financed partially with a grant from the Finnish Ministry of Fisheries and the European Union.
The owners of Meitmeal are two young Finns, Anders Granfors and Jonathan Hast, one a captain, the other chief engineer. The venture has garnered great interest in Finland, as a major new commercial venture in Kaskinen is national news. Reporters for all the main media outlets attended the signing of the agreement, as well as representatives from the municipality, the Finnish Ministry of Fisheries and Iceland‘s Ambassador to Finland, Elín Flygenring.
HPP Protein Plant inside Meitmeal facilities in Kaskinen.
100% resource utilization
The strengths of the HPP Protein Factory are that it takes up at least 30% less space, has 30% fewer components and consumes 30% less energy than conventional fishmeal factories.
HPP factories have now been exported to the United States, Germany, The Faeroe Islands, England, Finland, France and Norway. Four HPP factories have been sold in Iceland. One of these is on board the most technically advanced fishing vessels in the Arctic, Ilivileq, which is owned by the fishing company Brim hf. A 380 ton HPP factory, built for Síldarvinnslan hf, is currently under construction in the fishing town Neskaupsstaður.
Depending on size, the processing capacity of the factories ranges from 10 to 400 tons per day. Where HPP factories have been installed onboard ships, not a single fishtail is thrown overboard, as 100% of the catch is utilized. The products of HPP factories can be expected to account for 7-10% of the value of the catch, depending on whether the product is certified for human consumption. Its products are either processed further as high-quality protein meal for feed or fish oil for human consumption.
A more valuable product
Jonathan Hast, one Meitmeal‘s owners, explains that the most important reason they chose an HPP Protein Factory was that it takes up significantly less space than the factories of other manufacturers.
“This was the only factory which fit into our premises. A second factor was HPP‘s capacity to make products for human consumption. This was absolutely critical to ensure access to grants for the project. We want to generate greater value from our herring and sprat. Too much of the catch has been consigned to animal feed. Fish-meal and oil for human consumption are far more valuable products,” Jonathan explains.
“Finally, we were impressed by the energy efficiency of the HPP factory. With energy prices high and rising, every Euro matters in this business. The HPP factory is the best option in this department.”
