Iceland review - 2016, Qupperneq 124

122 ICELAND REVIEW
Our service to the fishing industry focuses on transport-
ing, storing and shipping as fresh a product as possi-
ble,” says Guðmundur Þór Gunnarsson, COO of Ship-
ping at Samskip.
ALL-ROUND FISH TRANSPORT
“We transport fish all around the country. A company in
Kópavogur may buy fish at the market in Ísafjörður and that’s
where our trucking service comes in, transporting fish between
regions,” specifies Guðmundur. It takes around five hours to
drive from Ísafjörður in the West Fjords, southwards to the cap-
ital area, for example, Kópavogur. “The fish usually arrives in
the night and is processed the next day.” Guðmundur adds: “We
also transport fresh salmon from a fish farm in the West Fjords to
destinations around Europe and North America.”
Fresh fish destined for foreign markets—mainly the UK and
France, but also the Netherlands and Belgium—is shipped by
Samskip’s vessels to the closest ports, which takes approximately
three days. From there, the seafood is distributed by truck, boat
or rail to markets in Europe, or by plane to New York. “We have
cold stores in major ports, where we can provide the customers
with temporary storage before they send the products to their
final destinations,” says Guðmundur. Through Samskip’s partner
freight companies, frozen Icelandic fish ends up in destinations as
distant as Ghana, Egypt, South Korea and Japan.
THE SHIPPING EXPERT
SPECIAL PROMOTION
ICELAND SEAFOOD
From left: COO of shipping Guðmundur Þór Gunnarsson and sales director Gunnar Kvaran.