“Experience from the oil and gas industry made it easier for us to enter aquaculture. Having worked with oil companies to tailor products has proven very valuable,” said Anders Holm, CEO of CSUB. He was a speaker at the Aquaculture Conference in Kvinesdal this week.
Established in 2003, CSUB merged with HighComp in 2015. HighComp is a EPCI supplier of large composite aquaculture constructions, mainly in the form of fish tanks, bridges and water treatment tanks.
Headquartered in Arendal, CSUB has more than 250 employees in Norway, Lithuania, and the Middle East – where a new office is being established in Qatar.
“A home market is vital for testing new solutions. The development in salmon farming is similar to the development of the Norwegian oil and gas industry in the 80s and 90s. With Norwegian owners, Norwegian finance and Norwegian competence, Norwegian technology is spreading throughout the world,” said Holm, happy to be along for the ride.
Working with composites, CSUB promotes products with a reduced carbon footprint (approximately 50 per cent compared to steel), low weight (one third of steel), reduced vessel crane requirements, and stackability.
“Our products are very durable, with an expected lifespan of at least 50 years,” said Holm.
Other GCE NODE participants present at the Aquaculture Conference in Kvinesdal included NOV, HMH, Nekkar, NORCE, DNB, NIVA, CapGemini, and Håmsø Patentbyrå.
Christian von der Ohe, RD&I Manager at GCE NODE, was pleased to see a good mix of companies, organizations, and county and municipality representatives present.
“The conference highlights most of what we aim to solve in the Oil2Fish project. We need to increase the competence level for companies and public authorities entering the aquaculture market, and more specifically – we need to understand the complex and fascinating processes of marine biology. For our tech people – the system and machine builders – to succeed in aquaculture, it is important that they work together and learn more about the industry,” says von der Ohe.
He calls for more openness and collaboration across companies.
“The oil and gas industry has done a tremendous job to gain trust between companies, despite a highly competitive environment. Test facilities must be open to small and medium-sized companies, as they often have very good solutions to offer,” says von der Ohe.
