There is nothing like good old Baader processing machinery and to maintain it the leading experts are found in the Faroe Islands — at engineering firm Petur Larsen, whose specialists travel the world to service the machines.
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Petur Larsen Pf (PL) certainly has a reputation and a special status in the world of Baader processing machinery, to the extent that anyone approaching Baader for a second-hand filleting machine is likely to be directed to this company in the Faroe Islands.
In addition to servicing Baader machinery installed at processing facilities across the world, the Fuglafjørður-based engineering company performs maintenance and repairs on factory trawlers.
According to PL chief engineer Atli Larsen, the company has recently added to its workforce a specialist in electronic control systems, someone who is both a trained electrician as well as being a mechanical engineer.
“We have many years of specialist knowledge, in both maintenance and service, which gives us a competitive advantage,” Mr. Larsen said. “Also we work closely with Baader in Germany to help make sure owners of old Baader machinery get the maintenance and repairs they need.”
When new machinery isn’t an option or a requirement, PL can offer a full refurbishment of an existing machine.
“A fully refurbished, used Baader processing unit can be expected to have a comparative improved performance rate of 1 to 3%,” Mr. Larsen said. “That can make a significant difference to production, especially when large quantities are involved. So, a seemingly marginal difference can mean very much for a producer’s bottom line. Therefore a refurbished Baader machine is often a worthwhile investment.”
Any fully refurbished Baader machine comes with a three-month warranty and the knowledge that PL technical staff are available to make sure it stays in peak condition.
Much of the work on fishing vessels comes with time constraints, Mr Larsen noted. The nature of the business is such that factory trawlers spend as little time as possible at the quayside; with only a day or two in port, any such job is accompanied by the ticking of the clock.
“This is a challenge and often results in machinery not being serviced as frequently as needed to keep the high yield, which has obvious drawbacks,” Mr. Larsen said. “An unmaintained machine just produces a lower yield.”
Perpetuating expertise
When freezer trawler Enniberg needed its Baader 190 and Baader 99 filleting machines serviced, and still needed to get back to fishing grounds, the solution was for Mr. Larsen to sail with the ship for the Barents Sea. Any downtime in production was used to carry out the much-needed maintenance on the two filleters.
“Not many of these Baader 99 machines are left on the market, and Baader never made a direct successor to it. These machines are in very high demand, and Enniberg’s crew are lucky to have one. It’s the perfect machine for large white fish.”
As there had been an opportunity to service the machine when Enniberg had been in dock, only routine work was needed while Mr. Larsen was on board.
Once his work was done, the Enniberg was still far from finishing its trip, so it was convenient that another Faroese trawler, Sjúrðarberg, had almost filled its fishroom.
“I was able to jump ship and come home with Sjúrðarberg from the Barents Sea.”
For a long time, the engineering business was located in the basement of Petur Larsen’s house in Fuglafjørður, following the years he had spent working on Baader machinery in Greenland during the 1970s. By 1990 the expanding company he had established moved to premises of its own, and in 2002 shifted to even larger workshops and offices by the Fuglafjørður quayside.
PL’s present owners are the children of its founder, and continue his work specializing in repairing and servicing Baader fish processing equipment. This is work that regularly takes the company’s technical staff all over the world, to places as far afield as Bangladesh or Greenland or anywhere between.
These days PL is based in a 600 square meter workshop and employs a number of full-time engineers as well as holding the agency in the Faroe Islands for Baader fish processing equipment, supplying new systems in addition to the day-to-day work of maintaining and servicing existing shore-based and seagoing processing setups.
Mr. Larsen added: “Besides a great workshop with great technicians, we have three Baader service engineers as well as an expert in electronics for processing machinery. Also we have three individuals who are being trained to become Baader service engineers as part of our own training system, which we have developed to make sure that our expertise is perpetuated and cultivated within the organization.”
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