News
Samskip will handle Icelandic aluminium shipments to the European market for Alcoa Fjardaál
Product shipments from Iceland will increase by nearly 25%
Alcoa Fjardaál has entered into an agreement with Samskip whereby the Icelandic shipping company will take care of shipments to Europe of the company's production over the next five years.
The major part of Alcoa Fjardaál's production will go to the European market and these shipments will result in a major increase in Samskip's operations in Iceland.
Tómas Már Sigurdsson, President of Alcoa Fjardaál, and Samskip President Ásbjörn Gíslason, signed the agreement on 10 October in the Communication Centre of Alcoa Fjardaál and Fjardabyggd in Sómastadir, Reydarfjördur, Iceland.
The planned annual production capacity of Alcoa Fjardaál is 346,000 tons, of which around 80% is expected to be purchased by European customers. Samskip will be responsible for shipping this product to Rotterdam and for organising on-carriage to customers throughout Europe. The agreement will therefore greatly increase Samskip's operations in Iceland and mainland Europe. Compared with Iceland's total export shipments last year, the tonnage will increase by nearly 25%.
"This is an important and advantageous agreement for Alcoa Fjardaál. It will make Samskip a contact for our customers in Europe. I expect that the shipments will also benefit the entire area of Northeast Iceland and change the overall pattern of shipments in Iceland," said Tómas Már Sigurdsson, President of Alcoa Fjardaál at the signing of the agreement.
"We at Samskip have great expectations for this collaboration with Alcoa Fjardaál. We have handled large shipments related to the construction of the plant and its associated dam here in East Iceland, and in connection with them, we have beefed up our sailing system considerably. We now make weekly calls at Reydarfjördur, but this agreement with Alcoa Fjardaál will clearly lead to enlargement of our shipping fleet and even increased general shipping capacity when the shipments reach their normal level," said Ásbjörn Gíslason, Samskip's President.
Alcoa Fjardaál will generally manufacture pure aluminium, various aluminium alloys for diverse industrial manufacturing and aluminium wire used in high-voltage lines. The annual export value of Fjardaál's production can be expected to be ISK 50-60 billion (550-600m Euros) per year, based on the price of aluminium and currency exchange rates at their current levels.
Samskip is aiming at further build-up in East Iceland following the agreement, and the company has already been allocated a plot in the operations area of Mjóeyrarhöfn Harbour.
Particular details of the agreement will not be disclosed.
