Promens Dalvik recently reached an important milestone when its tub production reached numbers 500,000 and 500,001. These tubs were formally handed over by the company to two loyal clients.
The achievement coincided with the ‘Great Fish Day’ - an annual festival held in Dalvik, a fishing village in Eyjafjörður, Iceland, where the rotational molding tub manufacturing was first established 26 years ago under the name Sæplast.
Ever since, Promens Dalvik has mainly been servicing the fishing industry, both in Iceland and overseas.
The 500,000th tub was handed over to Geert Gregersen, MD of Dansk Karudlejning, a Danish company that owns thousands of tubs and offers a diverse tub rental service to its customers.
This Esbjerg-based company only uses Sæplast tubs, and the fishery and fish processing industries in the Danish port have conducted considerable business with the Dalvik factory for more than 20 years.
Magnús Kristinsson, a shipowner at Bergur-Huginn in Westman Islands, received the 500,001st tub. The company has for several years used Sæplast tubs onboard its fishing vessels.
Bergur-Huginn is amongst the most powerful fishing companies in Iceland and has received many acknowledgements for its operation, including the Environmental Award of the Federation of Icelandic Fishing Vessel Owners and the Icelandic Fisheries Award for its outstanding fleet in 2008.
‘The tubs are our food chests’
Kristinsson told WF that the tubs are solid and easily cleaned, which are important criteria for Bergur-Huginn.
“Throughout the years, it has been very good doing business with the Dalvik factory and its representatives. Overall, I have bought 3,000-4,000 tubs and I have taken good care of all of them. I won’t tolerate seeing my tubs spread around as they should be onboard or full of fish, ready to export. Green tubs; clean and great," he said.
All the company’s tubs are green and no other Promens’ clients can purchase tubs in this colour, making Bergur-Huginn’s tubs easily recognisable.
“We are using about 500 tubs onboard each of our three vessels, currently circulating about 1,500-2,000 tubs including those going to and coming from fish buyers. The tubs are, in my mind, the company’s food chests that we take good care of and ensure that they deliver the best raw material to buyers.
“Our responsibility is to handle the valuable raw material that fish is, and therefore we use the best tools available. We see the tubs as being a key link in this chain," said Kristinsson.
Filling a container a day for 26 years
The production of Sæplast tubs in Dalvik initially targeted the fishing industry, before making inroads into overseas markets. There are now about 20-30 types of tubs being produced in Dalvik but the most popular types have been the 460, 660 and 1,000 litre tubs.
Today about 65% of Promens Dalvik’s tub production goes to the seafood industry and 35% to other industries, primarily in food production such as meat and vegetables.
The factory has over the last 26 years used around 26,000 tonnes of raw material in its tub production and, to highlight its production scope, it has been calculated that one 40ft container full of tubs has been delivered to clients on each production day since the business started up.
The maximum daily throughput at the Dalvik factory is 160 tubs compared to just 15 tubs in the initial years. The 24-hour production is divided into three shifts and runs for five days.
75% worldwide market share
Constant innovations are part of Promens Dalvik’s tub production and the newest one deals with a safety feature, the so-called ‘safety foot’. Tub corners were widened, resulting in a tighter fit and more secure stacking. This leads to improved safety when the filled up tubs are stacked to several levels.
"The Sæplast trademark is well known and we have, for example, around 75% of the worldwide market share for insulated tubs. We get much feedback from our clients, as we have experienced in the domestic market in the wake of the stacking implementation. Foreign markets are also stirring, so I can only imagine that the strong Sæplast trademark will continue to strengthen,“ said Hilmar Guðmundsson, sales and marketing manager.
