Samskip Inks Deal With Alcoa

Alcoa Fjardaál, a new Icelandic plant for Canada's Alcoa, one of the world’s largest producers of aluminum, has contracted Samskip to handle shipments to Europe over the next five years.

The planned annual production capacity of Alcoa Fjardaál is 346,000 tons, of which about 80 percent is expected to go to European customers. Samskip will be responsible for shipments to Rotterdam and for organizing on-carriage to customers throughout Europe.

Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed but using current aluminum prices and currency exchange rates the annual export value of Alcoa Fjardaál's production could reach 60 billion ISK ($997 million), Samskip said.

The shipping company, which has management offices in Reykjavik and Rotterdam, said the deal would increase its Icelandic export volume by nearly 25 percent.

"This agreement with Alcoa Fjardaál will clearly lead to enlargement of our shipping fleet and even increased general shipping capacity when the shipments reach their normal level," said Ásbjörn Gíslason, Samskip's president.

Samskip is aiming to build up its facilities in East Iceland following the agreement, and the company has already been allocated a plot in the operations area of Mjóeyrarhöfn Harbor.