The power plant in Uummannaq burned on Monday, and the power cut has also extended to the three fish factories in the city, which receive halibut. Sermitsiaq spoke to them all on Wednesday at noon, i.e. 48 hours after the fire at the power plant, and at the time of writing they still have not received power.
The factory manager at the Sigguk ApS fish factory describes the power failure as follows:
The power plant in Uummannaq burned on Monday, and the power cut has also extended to the three fish factories in the city, which receive halibut. Sermitsiaq spoke to them all on Wednesday at noon, i.e. 48 hours after the fire at the power plant, and at the time of writing they still have not received power.
The factory manager at the Sigguk ApS fish factory describes the power failure as follows:
– Right now we still don’t have electricity. It’s a disaster. The heart of Uummannaq has stopped.
– It is shocking that something like this can happen. We are very frustrated. Many of our employees are affected, says Ole Andersen to Sermitsiaq.
According to him, around 20 employees have been sent home since Monday.
The power plant started burning on Monday at noon. As a result, the goods that were produced and purchased earlier that day must now be discarded because they cannot be salvaged.
– We still have our fish, which we worked on on Monday morning and were not yet finished with. Some of them have completely thawed.
– We have to say that we have lost them. It is perhaps about 5 tonnes, says Ole Andersen.
About 100 tons are thawing
In addition, fishermen’s longline bait, which weighs several tons, is also at risk.
– We still have around 100 tonnes of bait in the freezer. This morning our large freezer is still at minus 15. We hope that we will get power again before it is too late, says Ole Andersen.
The frozen baits are capelin and polar cod.
Avannaa Seafood ApS: We have fish that must be thrown away
One of the fish factories in Uummannaq, Avannaa Seafood ApS, is also hard hit, says production manager John Møller. The company has still not received power this morning either.
– Unfortunately, we already have some fish that must be thrown away. They have already been degraded in terms of quality. It’s not just a ton. That’s several tons.
– It is painful, and of course it also has great significance for the company, he says.
He cannot say exactly how much halibut may be discarded. But he says around 10 tonnes are at risk.
– The products from Sunday afternoon until the fire on Monday morning. They might weigh around 10 tons. They are at risk of being thrown out, says John Møller.
Most employees at Avannaa Seafood ApS have also been sent home.
Frozen goods were saved
Royal Arctic Line’s ship, Maleraq, arrived yesterday evening at Uummannaq with, among other things, equipment for the noodle plant. And the two production plants’ frozen goods, i.e. the finished products, were saved.
– Fortunately, Maleraq brought our frozen goods yesterday. We managed to send them to Denmark. Fortunately, these are very large quantities. There are more than 100 pallets, says Ole Andersen from Sigguk.
Avannaa Seafood is also pleased that they got that opportunity.
– The Royal Arctic Line’s ship left yesterday, while it was here, with the finished goods from our cold storage and sailed them away, we are very grateful for that, says John Møller.
Royal Greenland: We sent the frozen goods to Saattut
In addition to the private production facilities, publicly owned Royal Greenland also has a production facility in Uummannaq. They also have a production plant and cold storage in Saattut, which they have benefited from.
– When the power went out, I already reckoned that we would be without power for a long time, so we had 60 pallets of our frozen halibut transported to Saattut. They are still frozen, they have not thawed, says production manager Jakob Mathiassen.
Their production facility is also closed now and he cannot say when it will reopen. He says it will depend on Nukissiorfiit’s work.
