Based on the northern side of the Varanger peninsula, Norway, Båtsfjordbruket is a subsidiary of the large seafood corporation, Insula AS. The group's primary focus is the development, processing and sale of fish and seafood products across the Nordic region. Insula's corporate portfolio consists of a number of seafood companies in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland.
Båtsfjordbruket has invested £7 million in a growth development plan in order to meet rising demand for its seafood products. The recent business expansion included a site extension and new processing equipment for its new frozen fish fillet production line.
Cooling equipment manufacturer Starfrost designed a highly efficient spiral freezer which features cutting-edge sanitising technology, enabling the seafood firm to increase product throughput and fully automate freezing processes within the new production line.
Frank Kristiansen, CEO of Båtsfjordbruket, outlines the benefits of the new spiral freezer: 'Our recent investment to expand our factory and increase product capacity provided a great opportunity to implement new freezing technology in our processing line. We selected Starfrost as our freezer supplier based on company reputation and global service support. Starfrost equipment is renowned for its reliability and we were happy with the specification they provided, which supports our focus for high efficiency and high performance within our factory lines.'
'The Helix spiral freezer is a fully automated system that minimises contact handling. This, combined with a seamless enclosure construction that features an automated cleaning system, delivers improved hygiene safety within production. The high-tech efficiency of the freezer means we are able to produce more frozen seafood product in a more cost effective way than we were before. Our processing times have been reduced and we have boosted capacity by 35%, with plans to increase this figure once we are running at maximum production capacity.'
Båtsfjordbruket's compact Helix spiral freezer processes 2500kg of fish fillets per hour, including cod, saithe and haddock and has been designed with horizontal airflow technology for consistent, controlled freezing that is gentle on delicate seafood products. The spiral freezer houses 170 m2 of stainless steel belt enabling large capacities of seafood products to be frozen within a small factory footprint.
Controlled with an intelligent HMI screen, the freezer features programmable settings for precise temperature reduction and freezing times for individual products, which is both energy efficient and flexible to the seafood processor's existing and future production requirements.
Jonathan Fox, Export Sales Manager, Starfrost: 'The Helix spiral freezer installed at Båtsfjordbruket has provided significant efficiency and throughput benefits, thus enabling a maximum return on investment. The stainless steel and fully accessible design ensures highest hygiene levels and ease of maintenance. The addition of a Clean in Place (CIP) System delivers a repeatable, cost effective method of cleaning and sanitising. Latest advancements in Starfrost's CIP technology have enabled a reduction of water usage from 100 litres per minute to 8 litres per minute. The innovative new design delivers the highest hygiene levels whilst decreasing the volume of detergent and sanitiser.'