FarCargo, a new Faroese air cargo company, has been launched to fly fresh salmon from Bakkafrost to the United States.
FarCargo have signed a SPA regarding the purchase of a Boeing 757-200 air cargo freighter with a payload of approximately 35 tonnes. The aircraft will be delivered within two-four months and will then begin operating between the Faroe Islands and New York.
The flight operations will be carried out by the Swedish company WestAtlantic, with around ten pilots and captains responsible for flying the aircraft. The planning of this air cargo company and the selection of the right aircraft has taken FarCargo almost 12 months.
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“This is a big milestone for us, as this is the first Faroese aircargo company as well as the only private owned airline company in the Faroe Islands. The majority shareholder is Bakkafrost, the biggest commercial company in the Faroe Islands, who produce approximately 100,000 ton of fresh salmon per year in the Faroes and in Scotland,” Birgir Nielsen, CEO at FarCargo, said.
“This is a new chapter in the Faroese exporting history, where the aim is to supply fresh iced salmon with premium quality to both the US market, the Israel market and other worldwide markets only 24 hours after the salmon was swimming in the Faroese fjords,” Regin Jacobsen, CEO of Bakkafrost, said.
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“For the last many years we have had as our goal to improve and develop our US salmon market. We believe that this new possibility to transport the salmon directly with air cargo from the Faroe Islands to US, together with our Bakkafrost processing plant in New Jersey, will give us far better possibility to improve the supply chain service to our customers in US east coast,” Jacobsen added.
On the return flight from the US to Europe the FarCargo company will offer US and European companies the opportunity to purchase payload capacity for regular flights, starting from three trips and growing to five flights per week.
