Grieg slaughterhouse in shutdown after water pipe break

The water pipe, which runs under the sea, is in Stavanger municipality, It feeds the Sjernarøyane Islands where a Grieg slaughterhouse is located.

The company told the national broadcaster NRK that the incident is likely to have major consequences for the aquaculture industry as the pipe, which is 200 metres down, could take up to a month to repair.

Many domestic consumers are also likely to be without their normal water supply and are being forced to seek alternative supplies.

Grieg is clearly unhappy with the situation. The company slaughterhouse, which was due to start up again after being down due to maintenance work, looks almost certain to remain shut until the pipe problem is fixed.

The facility has capacity to slaughter up to 20,000 tons of Grieg salmon a year and that work will probably have to be moved to other locations for a time.

The company’s regional director Kjetil Ørnes told NRK that he was not satisfied with the situation. He said: “Initially, this means that we have to lay off our employees which could lead to them looking for a new jobs. In addition, the box factory in Oltedal will be without its largest customer, and two box trucks from Rennesøy traffic will be left without a job."

The pipe break may also result in affecting other parts of the Grieg operation in the area.

Stavanger Municipality has told NRK that it is working hard to fix the problem but it admitted that the incident has presented problems.