The world's largest ocean farm, Havfarm 1, was officially launched from Yantai Shipyard, China. Despite being affected by the emerging global COVID-19 situation, the project has seen steady construction progress during the last few weeks.

The offshore farm, developed by Nordlaks and NSK Ship Design, will arrive in Norway during the summer of 2020. The exact time for the launch of operations in Norway remains unclear. There is still uncertainty regarding completion, commissioning and testing of the equipment on board. At this stage, Nordlaks is dependent on personnel from various suppliers, but strict restrictions on the entry of personnel into China cause uncertainty.

“The yard is located in Yantai City in Shandong Province, China. This is far from the epicenter for the outbreak of the coronavirus, but the project was nevertheless affected early due to the extension of the holiday in connection with the Chinese new year and subsequent restrictions in the form of, among other things, the home quarantine. In recent weeks, the situation in Yantai has normalized, but China has now imposed severe restrictions on entry into the country as most cases of coronavirus infection now occur outside of China,” said communications director, Lars Fredrik Martinussen.

Havfarm is 385 meters long and nearly 60 meters wide and is one of the largest development projects in the Norwegian aquaculture industry.