Rival fish feed suppliers Cargill and Skretting said Monday they will begin shipping feed from both of their companies to Norwegian salmon farmers using the same vessels.

"Instead of ships with Cargill’s EWOS feed sailing right behind ships with Skretting feed along the Norwegian coast, feed from both companies will be shipped by the same vessels. This will limit shipping traffic and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by one fifth for the fish feed transport," the companies said in a joint announcement.

The companies have given their new collaboration a name -- "Fjordfrende" -- which in English means fjord friend.

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The two companies have selected shipping company Eidsvaag for planning and handling the feed shipments, including for ships currently under contract.

‘With this cooperation we will increase the utilization rate of our fleets and significantly reduce our environmental footprint," said Fredrik Witte, managing director, Cargill Aqua Nutrition, North Sea.

‘We are creating an efficient system by optimizing capacity over time, giving aquaculture a better distribution model. Load capacity will be better utilized, there will be shorter sailing distances and investment opportunities will increase,’ commented Erlend Sødal, managing director of Skretting Norway.

Greenhouse gas reduction

In the early years of the cooperation, the company said, it may already be possible to reduce the fleet capacity, while increasing the utilization rate of the cargo capacity. This efficiency improvement will reduce emission of harmful greenhouse gases by one-fifth per ton of fish feed transported. That equals 15-20 million kilograms of CO2 per year, which is equivalent to removing 7,500 cars from the roads every year.

Company Profile: Skretting

In future, investments in new feed vessels will contribute to a better adapted and multi-functional feed fleet. One fleet serving both parties will not only maintain today’s level of service, but also form a better basis for innovation and development.

Despite the new collaboration, the companies stress they will remain competitors.

‘We will continue to compete on every aspect of our business, including product performance and prices. The difference will be that the feed will be delivered by the same ship operator,’ commented the directors.

The companies commissioned independent third party Tri-Vizor as a trustee to ensure they continue to operate independently from each other.

The project is based on guidelines and models that have been developed by environmental projects for horizontal logistics cooperations, which are financed and supported by the EU Commission.

As Cargill and Skretting are competitors, antitrust compliance is crucial, and implies that certain information cannot be shared amongst both parties. Therefore, Tri-Vizor has established a framework that will be operated by Eidsvaag.

The companies will continue their cooperation with the existing transport companies, AquaShip/Artic Shipping, NTS/Rotsund and Eidsvaag.