English
The Suðurnes Fishmarket Inc. (FMS) was founded on the 24th of May in 1987. That same year the first live auction was held, on September 14th. A decision had been made to break the routine of fish-auctioning in Iceland, and instead a joint auction at two different locations – Njarðvík and Grindavík – combined buyers for the first time. Soon more markets at towns like Hafnarfjörður, Þorlákshöfn and Sandgerði joined in. Today all Icelandic markets are connected to a shared network – “Tengill” – an auction system developed for the Icelandic fish auction by FMS.
Originally the fish was supposed to be retrieved from the ship by the buyer. However, this soon developed as it became clear that housing the fish was a necessity. So today the markets receive the fish from the ships, prepare it for sale, process the sale and distribute it to the buyer. This service is constantly growing and expanding and it now holds for example icing service, fraight lift service, etc.
FMS currently has running markets in six harbors. They are Grindavík, Reykjanesbær, Sandgerði, Ísafjörður, Höfn in Hornafjörður and Hafnarfjörður. These harbors link in one joint auction along with other harbors through the Tengill-system. RSF is a joint venture of all the auction in Iceland and handles all issues of the markets using Tengill. Auctions are carried out via ‘Fisknet’, an online auction system that has been in use since June 19th 2003.
The expansion of FMS in this young trade has been in accordance to the company’s ability at any given time and the goal is to improve customer service one step at a time. To celebrate the company’s 10-year anniversary on May 24th 1997 a new 2000 m2 warehouse in Sandgerði - built by the company - was opened for use. In 2007, to mark the company‘s twentieth anniversary, FMS opened a new 1400 m2 warehouse in Grindavík. With the addition of these houses, FMS has a strong facility in all of its harbors.
FMS sells 20 thousand tons of fish every year and runs a distribution centre from the market in Hafnarfjörður for all fish from the countryside. Between 25-30 people work for FMS as of 2008.
The FMS also holds shares in other companies related to their operation. Those companies include:
- Reiknistofa fiskmarkaða inc. (53,00% share)
- Umbúðamiðlun inc. (24,5% share)
- Fiskmarkaður Siglufjarðar ( 55.00 %)