In a project closely coordinated with feed manufacturing giant Havsbrún and fishing company Framherji, Fuglafjørður’s cold store Bergfrost has extended its underground space to make room for an extra 10,000 tonnes of cold storage plus a new dry storage hall and a new forklift garage.
According to Bergfrost managing director Símin Pauli Sivertsen, the jointly developed plan between the three key players at the Port of Fuglafjørður was inspired by the fact that rock excavated from tunnel construction can often be used for harbor land reclamation.
Bergfrost wanted more cold storage capacity as well as new space for dry storage; Havsbrún was extending its dry storage capacity; and Framherji needed more harbor maneuvering space for their large fishing vessels.
“We and Havsbrún already had plans of building new storage tunnels and Framherji was looking for ways to have berthing space added,” Mr. Sivertsen noted. “At the same time all of us were keen to minimize waste and save space and energy.”
As it turned out, contractor Articon had just completed a road tunnel project near Klaksvík and was already involved in ongoing extension work at Havsbrún.
“We hired the same contractor and developed a closely coordinated plan in conjunction with Fuglafjørður’s port authority,” Mr. Sivertsen said.
With the added tunnels completed, Havsbrún and Bergfrost now each have about 27,000 square meters of underground storage, saving a whopping 54,000 m2 of valuable space for the Port of Fuglafjørður.
“Just imagine how this place would look if all of that space hadn’t been utilized underground! By freeing up all of that space while adding these facilities, we’ve helped make room for more port business.”
100,000 truckloads
At the same time, the energy saving is significant for the cold store, Mr. Sivertsen pointed out.
“Keeping the cold store temperature constant at minus 23 Centigrade requires considerable amounts of energy,” he said. “But compared to conventional cold storage facilities, the natural insulation that we get from the mountain rock reduces energy consumption by as much as one-third. A further advantage of this type of insulation is the operational safety it provides in the event of power outages—a huge body of surrounding mountain rock remains deep frozen and thereby prevents the temperature inside the storage facility from changing anytime soon.”
Meanwhile, all of the excavated rock from the storage tunnels has been used for harbor development in the immediate neighborhood, with approximately 40,000 truckloads of eight cubic meters each—that’s no less than 320,000 m3 of rock.
Going back three decades, with earlier phases of Havsbrún and Bergfrost tunnel construction included, the excavated rock in total amounts to a staggering 100,000 truckloads—or 800,000 m3, most of it used for local harbor construction.
For all that, deepwater harbors require extensive amounts of material for land reclamation. On that note, the Port of Fuglafjørður has seen remarkable development over the past three decades, clearly reinforcing competitiveness for businesses located here.
As for Bergfrost’s latest extension, once the ongoing finishing work is completed, the company will be able to offer its clientele a total cold storage capacity of 35,000 tonnes, further cementing its already established position as the largest cold store in the Nordic Seas region.
In the dry storage department, Bergfrost will now have 5,000 m2 of well protected underground space to offer, kept at optimum temperature by energy-saving reverse cycle heating.
“We’re receiving quite a lot of attention from both Faroese and foreign vessels,” Mr. Sivertsen said. “It seems demand for our cold storage service will remain high despite the widespread uncertainty that many experience nowadays; as for the upcoming dry storage service, indications are it will attract a good number of clients, too.”
The new underground forklift garage is also set to streamline operations, make life somewhat easier for forklift drivers and reduce repair and maintenance needs for the company’s fleet of forklifts.
“We’re very pleased with this solution. The forklifts most of the time operate inside the tunnel complex, so it makes perfect sense that they are stored and maintained under the same roof rather than constantly moved between the garage we’ve had in our office building and the underground area and getting exposed to various weather conditions. Now with the garage located in the underground area, a number of the forklifts will remain inside the tunnel complex all of the time while a designated part of the fleet will be operating outdoors in connection with loading and unloading of vessels and containers.”