As the winter reaches its darkest, we’re looking back in time to see some of the bright moments we had in 2024.
The end of another year is already here. With time insisting on moving past so quickly, it can be hard to remember all the milestones of the past 12 months. To lead us into the Christmas break, Marel Fish wants to thank all its customers and staff by sharing just a few of the achievements we’ve accomplished together.
First, let’s start with the events. There was a net full of them, and for a while our experts were being shipped all over the place to meet attendees and showcase the advantages of Marel’s growing portfolio of hardware and software solutions. Did we catch you at any of our many 2024 shows?
Marel’s annual Salmon ShowHow was held in February. We welcomed more than 200 guests from 25 countries to our Progress Point Demo Center in Copenhagen, Denmark. Not only did we get to meet our customers face-to-face to demonstrate our cutting-edge innovations for salmon processing, but it was also a great way to break up a long winter and dive headlong into event season.
Shortly after ShowHow came Fish International in Germany. As Germany’s only fish trade fair, it had something of interest for everyone in seafood processing from food retailers to aquaculture to sustainable fishing.
In March, events hit the US with Seafood Expo North America held in Boston, as always, it proved to be a ‘must attend’ event for any seafood professional in the North American market.
While in Chile, the fast-growing expo for the Latin American market, Aqua Sur, had an historic number of visitors with over 22,000 attending.
Spain held both the Seafood Expo Global in April, in Barcelona and in early October it was time to celebrate 25 years of the Conxemar International Seafood Products Exhibition, in Vigo.
Aqua Nor came around in August where we introduced attendees to the value of our partnership with MMC First Process formed earlier in the year. The combined stand with MMC First Process resulted in a fantastic event.
In September the team found themselves in Australia at Seafood Directions, sharing ideas, workshops and best practices with the Oceania seafood industry.
September also found us in Brazil at the International Fish Congress & Expo, alongside national and international experts.
We wrapped exhibition season in Qingdao, where, at the end of October, we joined global exhibitors at the China Fisheries & Seafood Event, the largest seafood exhibition in Asia.
Along with these bigger events Marel teams were part of multiple smaller exhibitions and congresses, too many to mention in one short article, helping to introduce members of the fish industry from all over the globe to the latest technological advances.
As a boost to our egos, we were honored with two awards at the 2024 Icelandic Fisheries Awards. The first, the Processing Sector Value Creation, Large Company award for our Filleting Machine MS 2750 (more about that later), and the second, a special award recognizing our 40-year partnership with IceFish. It’s hard to believe we exhibited at their very first show in 1984, when Marel was a total of two people and a garage in Garðabær, Iceland.
The shows are one thing, but unless we continue to innovate and develop the solutions our customers need to meet today’s fish industry challenges, we aren’t doing enough. Luckily our innovation team was happy to keep using their wealth of knowledge, demonstrating why Marel is leading the way in innovative technology and in 2024 we launched the FleXicut Jet; cutting 50 fillets per minute, with flexibility and precision, it sets a new benchmark in fillet processing efficiency.
Our award winning Filleting Machine MS 2750 was launched in 2023 and is now installed in multiple facilities, where it has been living up to its promises to change the salmon filleting landscape. Investing in new equipment is always a big decision, but with the multiple advantages the MS 2750 offers, we are pleased to say our customers only have good things to report. At Alvarez y Alvarez in Chile, “The MS 2750 is a perfect fit for our value-added production needs,” says Rodrigo Torres Oyarzun, Process Manager. The MS 2750 has so far increased Alvarez y Alvarez’s throughput from 12 to 20 fish per minute. While in the US, Art Kavoukjian, CEO and Owner of Golden State Seafood, remarks on the MS 2750’s flexibility, “We can go from a 16-pound fish to a 4-pound fish, and it fillets both perfectly without us having to adjust a single setting. It's unreal.”
We are all striving to create a more sustainable fish industry, one way to achieve this is through the partnerships we develop with like-minded companies from across the globe. Working together to combine our strengths enables us to bring greater, more comprehensive offerings to our customers. One of the highlights for 2024 was the growth of our partnership with MMC First Process. Through our combined expertise, we can now supply a one stop solution for businesses working from aquaculture to further processing. The Marel and MMC First Process partnership simplifies purchasing, streamlines operations and improves on-going support for our customers. So far it is delivering excellence.
Waste raw material as a source of income? In 2024 we were proud to sponsor Iceland Ocean Cluster’s innovation Verbud. A space where innovators, startups and local experts present and develop ideas on how to turn traditional waste into a usable product.
And what about our customers? Without you, we’re a strong team with no direction. It is for you that we work hard to provide hardware, software and service solutions that help you reach your business and processing goals, keeping you competitive and meeting the ever more stringent challenges of the seafood processing industry – with 8.2 billion people to feed, it’s a challenge that keeps on growing.
During 2024 we were excited to welcome numerous customers to our offices and Demo Centers across the world. It thrills us to know that our customers are using Marel technology to be leaders in their markets and regions. Kouhu Fisheries is shaping the future of Taiwan’s fish processing by showing what can be achieved with automation. Keohane Seafoods in Ireland continues to embrace the advantages of technology in both equipment and Marel Software for improved operations and full product traceability. In Norway, Filetfabrikken saw what technology could provide and worked with Marel to build a salmon processing plant to meet demands today and be ready for tomorrow.
An ocean of thanks goes to the passion and hard work of our amazing team. Because of them our customers know Marel is always willing to go above and beyond. Along with world-class solutions, it is the Marel team that has kept customers like Ísfélagið in Iceland working with us from the very beginning.
As we wrap up this incredible year, Marel Fish sends good wishes to all and looks forward to embarking on all the coming adventures together.
If you’ve got a taste to go deeper into some of our 2024 highlights, follow the links above or explore the Fishing For Insight Newsletter on LinkedIn — another thing we were proud to launch in 2024.
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