Hangana unveils plant upgrades

THE Hangana hake company at Walvis Bay has for the umpteenth time in a period of three years realised a cost-cutting initiative to increase its product quality – setting a high standard for Namibian fish in export markets.

The company, which is part of the Ohlthaver and List Group (O&L), last week inaugurated its new N$38 million sorting and grading facility and ice plant. The additions to the factory will save the company more than N$55 000 per day and cut down on unnecessary delivery and production time, which is important to ensure product quality and freshness for very strict foreign markets.The new sorting and grading facility can handle between 50 to 70 tonnes of headed and gutted raw material.Hangana’s Managing Director, Hendrik van der Westhuizen, said before the facility, vessels had to offload catches at another plant ‘some way down the road’, whereafter it would be stored before again being transported to Hangana’s premises. Now, vessels can offload the fish right at the new plant for immediate storage and production. The new chill-room that can hold 90 tonnes of raw fish on ice from the new ice-plant, which has a capacity of producing up to 90 tonnes of ice per day (and which will be doubled soon), will also ensure high quality and freshness.Besides these facilities enhancing the company’s hake production and quality, it will allow Hangana to take more advantage of by-catches too, where species like sole, monkfish, orange roughy, ‘calamari’ and others will also be turned into value added export products. The company is already testing markets for these products, and according to O&L Executive Chairman, Sven Thieme, prospects look promising.Fisheries and Marine Resources Minister, Bernhard Esau, who attended the inauguration of the plant, praised Hangana for the ‘foresight’ they have shown over the past three years with significant investments in its fleet, the creation of a fuel-blending station, and now the state-of-the-art sorting and grading facility and ice plant.’If business grows and expands it also contributes more to the country’s GDP and obviously can employ more Namibians – all very admirable traits in any company,’ Esau said.