What initially was a competitor has become a crucial partner for HighComp.
Collaboration can create great results – that’s something both HighComp and Trefjar can attest to. After delivering fish tanks and related products to customers worldwide, HighComp wanted to increase its presence in Iceland a few years ago. And with that, a decision had to be made.
– While scanning the market and competitors, we encountered a small dilemma. Trefjar was initially a competitor who had been delivering fish farming tanks to the Icelandic market for many years. We had to decide whether to compete against them or join forces to become stronger together. We quickly saw that a collaboration was an exciting opportunity and chose to float the idea to the Icelanders, explains Fredrik Faye, Sales Director at HighComp.
Trefjar found the offer exciting, and an agreement between the parties was soon in place.
– Our immediate thought was that this was very positive. Through collaboration, we saw opportunities to take on larger and more complex projects than we could deliver on our own, says Óskar Hafnfjörð Auðunsson, CEO of Trefjar.
The two companies are quite different. Trefjar is a family business with strong local ties and production in Iceland. Norwegian HighComp, on the other hand, has a much larger production capacity and many opportunities linked to its large engineering department.
– The major advantage is that Trefjar already knew the Icelandic environment and industry people very well. They also have an excellent local installation team, which means we don’t have to send people over regarding installation – something that would have been an additional cost for the customer. What we bring to the table is our large engineering department, contributing to design and calculations on projects. This allows us to collectively take on larger assignments and ensures that we can offer the best solution adapted to the market, says Faye.
Faye explains that increased activity in the Icelandic aquaculture industry vas the driving force for HighComp to increase its presence in Iceland.
– We’re seeing a trend in Iceland where large post-smolt and grow-out facilities are being built. This means that the fish farming tanks need to be significantly larger than before. Our capacity, knowledge, and low-cost production combined with Trefjar’s local assembly team and knowledge of conditions in Iceland enable us to deliver cost-effective and customized solutions, says Faye, adding:
– Iceland has a huge advantage because they have pre-filtered water due to their location in lava fields. Based on this, many large projects are already underway or will be initiated in the coming years. That’s why we say Iceland is one of the major hotspots for land-based fish production.
Auðunsson believes collaboration with companies like HighComp is necessary for the industry to experience further growth in the country.
– For us, it’s crystal clear. Icelandic companies like Trefjar must collaborate with other larger players who have knowledge and experience from large scale projects. This way, our customers can trust that they’ll get the right solutions on time and within budget. Therefor this collaboration isn’t just important; it’s necessary if we’re going to keep going in the years to come, says Auðunsson.
The parties entered the collaboration the summer of 2023, and Faye reports that one has already reaped a lot of good. Together, the parties have helped each other on projects and exchanged precious knowledge.
– So far, it has worked out very well, and we’ve received a lot of positive feedback from our customers who think this collaboration is beneficial. Every other week, Trefjar and we have meetings where we review possible projects we’re working on and plan task distribution and execution, explains Faye.
– We’ve learned incredibly much from HighComp through the collaboration. Their approach to the industry and high focus on engineering and execution has really stood out. We hope we’ve managed to bring something to the table as well, in terms of our versatile experience from various industries and our knowledge – especially about the Icelandic market, says Auðunsson.
Both have great faith in that the collaboration will continue to be beneficial in the future.
– This is just the beginning. With all the exciting projects being planned in Iceland now, we’re confident that we can contribute to the fantastic development and growth that is now being facilitated, concludes Faye.
