Building Hypomar Ocean

Yesterday marked a milestone in Alginor and Hypomar’s shared history, namely the first steel-cutting of our first spec-built vessel titled Hypomar Ocean 1. Management and staff visited the FMV yard at Fitjar for the initiation ceremony, during which company logos were plasma-cut, speeches made, and toasts raised.

While many new vessels are assemblies of parts made overseas, we have chosen to have the entire process performed at Stord, just over an hour north of Haugesund. The collaboration with ship designers Solstrand Trading and shipbuilders Fitjar Mekaniske Verksted (FMV) has been—and continues to be—excellent, and the advantages of using local partners are apparent. In a statement to local newspaper Sunnhordland, shipyard manager Hugo Strand notes that “this is a great day for us and for the local community. We are now opening the doors to an exciting market and contributing to value-creation at Fitjar.”

Since last year, “yard number 55” has gone through many iterations to accommodate adjustments made to the on-board processing systems of the harvested raw material. Hypomar Ocean 1 will be the industry’s first harvester with such capabilities.

Beginning in 2024, Hypomar Ocean 1 will deliver pre-treated raw material fractions to our demonstrator biorefinery facility at Avaldsnes, which will produce alginates at a commercial scale as well as other products in smaller batches.