At the formal meeting of Legislative Council in December 2021, the Minister for Treasury, Infrastructure & Sustainable Development, Mark Brooks, gave a public update on the progress of the Fish Processing Factory Refurbishment Project. The Project is being delivered in partnership between St Helena Government (SHG) and Saints Tuna Corporation (STC).

At the time, the Minister announced a delay to the Project caused by the delayed delivery of the containerised blast freezer from the USA.

The blast freezer and its supporting logistical systems is a change to utilise modern cold storage concepts which is much more versatile, carrying less risks of down time and much less expensive to operate than the old conventional cold storage systems.

Unfortunately, global supply chain problems has caused more delays to the production and delivery of the freezer, meaning that the Factory will not be fully capable of exporting fish until the freezer arrives.

The refurbishment period would have lasted until end February 2022, but currently commissioning of the factory is dependent on several external factors, including the installation and commissioning of the blast freezer.

To alleviate this prolonged unforeseen delaying circumstances, SHG will assist STC to continue to implement interim measures within the refurbishment period, to ensure that the limited domestic fish processing can continue at the factory.

STC shall continue completing all remaining work to ensure the factory is upgraded to a modern and global standards compliant facility.

Source: St Helena Government