Focus Construction is experiencing an increasing demand for equipment for use in the aquaculture industry. This is down to the fact that they offer tailor-made solutions of high Norwegian quality at low Vietnamese prices and with a short delivery time.
“An increasing part of the business at our factory in Vietnam is producing equipment that the aquaculture industry needs. Through our sister company, Focus Engineering, we are also involved in designing or further developing the various solutions that we produce”, states Hans Håkon Norr, CEO of Focus Construction.
Future-oriented farming
One of the projects that Focus Construction is involved in is the aquaculture project Aquatraz. This consists of a rigid, swellable cage designed to improve fish health, reduce the risk of escaping and increase the available area for salmon and trout farming. The top uppermost eight meters of Aquatraz is encased by a steel shell which protects the cage completely from the sea surface. The steel structure makes the cage less susceptible to salmon escaping as a result of human error or due to objects that could be torn in the cage, but which are now protected by the steel structure.
Fresh water is pumped from the depths into the cage. The water is circulated by pumps. This ensures an optimal environment for the fish with oxygen-rich water that maintains a more uniform temperature, while the water circulation itself is supposed to provide a smoother and more robust fish.
The fact that the cage is solid in the upper part and open in the lower ensures that lice, which are mostly located in the upper water masses, do not enter the fish and thus contribute to reducing what in the past, was a problem with lice.
The cage can be lifted mechanically out of the sea by means of winches. It simplifies the maintenance, but also emptying the fish becomes easier as they are sucked out from the bottom of the cage while it is being lifted.
Watch this video for demonstration:
Lifting systems and water circulators
To raise and lower the cage, Aquatraz is equipped with four winches per cage. Focus Construction delivers the steel structure in this lifting system. The steel components, which are produced in Vietnam, consist of the foundation on which the winch is mounted, the winch itself and the blocks that lead the wires into the sea.
“We also supply the power sets that ensure that the water circulates inside the cage. The system consists of four 3.5-meter nozzles with propellers mounted approximately one and a half meters below the surface”, explains Norr.
The circulation in the cages means that the fish get exercise, which is believed to have a great effect on fish health.
Two Aquatraz fish farms are in operation and two more are under construction. The project has been awarded four development licenses with a time frame of seven years and is a collaboration between MidtNorsk Havbruk AS and Seafarming Systems AS.
Growing volume of assignments
“We are being awarded more and more assignments from the aquaculture industry; we are seen as easy-going, solution-oriented and can produce quick results. We have received orders where the desire for a fast delivery has been so great that some large, heavy and bulky components have been transported by plane from Vietnam to Western Norway in order to meet the short lead time. Delivery time is often crucial”, continues Norr.
