Norwegian Ambassador to UK visits #MadeGreatInGrimsby Seafood Cluster
September 15, 2021
The Ambassador was accompanied by Simon Dwyer representing the Grimsby & Humber cluster. Their first visit was to the newly constructed Border Control Post where the Ambassador met representatives of Associated British Ports and their construction partner. The BCP is planned to be fully operational by 1st January for the checking of imported products of animal origin for human and non-human consumption plus imported plants from EU & EEA countries.
The Ambassador had an insightful visit to the state of the art Flatfish processing plant to see the processing of Norwegian farmed halibut species and then went on to the fishmeal and fishoil producer Pelagia, who’s headquarter is in Norway.
Finally, the Ambassador attended a round-table discussion with importers of fresh and frozen fish from Norway hosted by Seafish Industry Authority CEO, Marcus Coleman. Importers raised concerns about the preparedness of their Norwegian fresh fish suppliers to provide newly required Export Health Certification from 1st October. The Ambassador commented “Thank you so much for welcoming us to Grimsby in such a generous manner. It is highly appreciated and of course we together urgently need to address the health certificate issue”.
Mike Woods, Chairperson of Grimsby Fish Merchants Association remarked “The FMA are working extensively not just with suppliers of fresh fish from Norway, but also Iceland and Faroes, to address the challenges around providing the new paperwork in a timely way so as not to have delays in the transportation to Grimsby and the Humber’s processing cluster. We welcome the Ambassador’s visit and are encouraged by his appreciation of the challenges and willingness to seek solutions.”