Salmo Terra has officially filed for bankruptcy, according to reports. The Norwegian company, founded in 2017, had planned to develop an 8000-tonne land-based salmon facility at a disused whaling site in Blomvågen in Øygarden municipality.
The project would have become Norway's largest land-based salmon farm.
However, a lack of interest from investors has dogged the project from the start, and the company failed to raise sufficient capital to begin the project, despite contracting with Danish-based Graintec to begin construction on the site.
According to reports in the Norwegian media, the company was recently taken to court by landowner Øygarden Næringspark over failure to pay rents on the site, with NOK 4 million outstanding.
In total, the Salmo Terra's debts stood at NOK 32 million, according to Norwegian district court proceedings.
The pain doesn't stop there, however, as it appears Salmo Terra has dragged its Danish RAS contractor Graintec into the financial mire. Less than a week after Salmo Terra declared bankrupty, Graintec followed suit.
The Danish company, which was founded in 1984, went under just six days after its Norwegian client filed for bankruptcy.
Graintec specialised in supplying salmon feed plants and feeding solutions to the salmon farming industry worldwide. The company worked with major industry players including Mowi in Norway and Proximar in Japan.
The Salmo Terra project was described by Graintec's CEO Michael Mortensen in 2021 as "an important milestone for Graintec", being its first foray into RAS fish farm design and construction – however, it now appears, a step too far.
