SA firm wins R70m contract for pilot Saudi Arabian prawn farm
Thématique :
sud afrique
By Olivia Spadavecchia, Engineering News, 21/01/2008
Local mariculture company SeaArk has been awarded a second contract for the use of its South African-developed high-tech prawn farming system.
In an agreement, worth some R 70-million, SeaArk would develop a commercial pilot plant at the existing open-pond prawn farming facility of the Saudi Arabian Al Faulk Group, in Jeddah
The pilot project would establish the commercial viability of SeaArk's advanced closed-pond technology in farming a Mediterranean brown shrimp variety known as panaeus indicus.
The biosecure technology was developed in South Africa after 15 years of research both locally and in the US. The technology to be deployed in the Al Faulk pilot project was the same used by SeaArk at its Coega facility, in the Eastern Cape.
Sea Ark Africa, which is 100% owned by the broad-based black economic-empowered Bosasa group of companies, announced its decision in December to develop a 1 200-ha giant prawn farming facility employing 11 000 people at Coega following a successful pilot phase.
"In Coega, we are successfully growing a pacific white shrimp variety known as panaeus vannemai, while in Saudi Arabia, we will be farming a species never before grown in a high-tech closed system," said SeaArk president Dave Wills.
"Together with our Saudi partners, we aim to demonstrate that our innovative mix of science and technology has the ability to grow the Mediterranean prawns they are already farming faster, with a lower food consumption rate, with greater densities, and higher barriers to infection and loss than in the in open ponds they are currently using," he explained.
SeaArk's patented technology combines closed specially designed ponds and computer-driven control systems with advanced biological science. As with the company's first international project in the Zhanjiang economic development zone in China, announced last December, many of Sea Ark's patented processes in the Jeddah pilot project would be run remotely from Coega.
The company explained that water quality and temperature, feed consistency, and plant biosecurity, among others, would be monitored on line by South African technicians working at the Coega research and development centre. It added that the Jeddah pilot plant would be built and managed by two other Bosasa companies, project management company BuildAll, and Sondolo IT.
"The agreement with the Al Faulk Group for the Saudi Arabian pilot plant is another huge vote of confidence in the technology we have brought to market maturity in our Coega plant," said SeaArk CEO Gavin Watson.
"For the second time following our partnership with the China Direct group, an international roll-out is making a huge contribution to the future of the Coega IDZ and the Eastern Cape economy, with a very direct and positive effect on the lives of thousands of families in the surrounding communities, particularly Motherwell," he continued.
Local mariculture company SeaArk has been awarded a second contract for the use of its South African-developed high-tech prawn farming system.
In an agreement, worth some R 70-million, SeaArk would develop a commercial pilot plant at the existing open-pond prawn farming facility of the Saudi Arabian Al Faulk Group, in Jeddah
The pilot project would establish the commercial viability of SeaArk's advanced closed-pond technology in farming a Mediterranean brown shrimp variety known as panaeus indicus.
The biosecure technology was developed in South Africa after 15 years of research both locally and in the US. The technology to be deployed in the Al Faulk pilot project was the same used by SeaArk at its Coega facility, in the Eastern Cape.
Sea Ark Africa, which is 100% owned by the broad-based black economic-empowered Bosasa group of companies, announced its decision in December to develop a 1 200-ha giant prawn farming facility employing 11 000 people at Coega following a successful pilot phase.
"In Coega, we are successfully growing a pacific white shrimp variety known as panaeus vannemai, while in Saudi Arabia, we will be farming a species never before grown in a high-tech closed system," said SeaArk president Dave Wills.
"Together with our Saudi partners, we aim to demonstrate that our innovative mix of science and technology has the ability to grow the Mediterranean prawns they are already farming faster, with a lower food consumption rate, with greater densities, and higher barriers to infection and loss than in the in open ponds they are currently using," he explained.
SeaArk's patented technology combines closed specially designed ponds and computer-driven control systems with advanced biological science. As with the company's first international project in the Zhanjiang economic development zone in China, announced last December, many of Sea Ark's patented processes in the Jeddah pilot project would be run remotely from Coega.
The company explained that water quality and temperature, feed consistency, and plant biosecurity, among others, would be monitored on line by South African technicians working at the Coega research and development centre. It added that the Jeddah pilot plant would be built and managed by two other Bosasa companies, project management company BuildAll, and Sondolo IT.
"The agreement with the Al Faulk Group for the Saudi Arabian pilot plant is another huge vote of confidence in the technology we have brought to market maturity in our Coega plant," said SeaArk CEO Gavin Watson.
"For the second time following our partnership with the China Direct group, an international roll-out is making a huge contribution to the future of the Coega IDZ and the Eastern Cape economy, with a very direct and positive effect on the lives of thousands of families in the surrounding communities, particularly Motherwell," he continued.
