Price shock on natural gas. The feed shipping company NSK Shipping has considered rebuilding its ships.
“It has clearly been on the table for us,” operations manager at NSK Shipping, Kenneth Gjelsvik, told SalmonBusiness.
Fjord Line is one of the companies that have come out and said that they are considering replacing natural gas (LNG) to return to diesel on their sailings to Denmark.
“There is an energy crisis that is demanding for all companies that depend on natural gas. I think a lot of people are looking at what options they have now,” CEO of Fjord Line, Brian Torsted Hansen told BT.
Gjelsvik says that they too had talks about this in the spring, about how they could operate their vessels if the crisis were prolonged.
“We talked about it and had specific plans in mind, but we have shelved it for now. It was probably mostly when the war in Ukraine escalated and there was a good deal.”
NSK Shipping mainly transports fish feed for BioMar.
Cost
He said that the cost of execution, downtime for the vessels and possibly the long-term, meant that they did not make anything more out of the talks.
“For the shipping company, there have of course been a lot of challenges.”
Gjelsvik does not want to comment on the cost picture directly, but says that he hopes that the authorities will soon have a clear plan for how to operate the aquaculture industry.
“We are looking at those who operate on land, where the authorities are now trying to put an agreement in place in September. It will make operations more predictable for them if they get it in place. For us in the aquaculture industry, it is not like that.”
More fodder per trip
He said that they do not have any smaller deliveries of fodder, but that they have had to change a little about how much they transport at a time.
“Now we are in high season, where we deliver continuously. But it must be said that we have transported a little more feed per trip by loading in an advanced warehouse during the trips.”
“As mentioned, we want it to be the best possible for all parties, both in terms of costs and the environment. But it is clearly a problematic situation we are facing,” he concluded.
BioMar did not wish to comment on the matter.
