The mother company of newly established fishing company Insung Namibia intends to invest no less than half a billion Namibian dollars to acquire vessels and set up operations in Walvis Bay this year.
Insung Namibia has partnered with the South Korean multi-business company Insung Fisheries, one of the top five fishing companies in that country.
Insung Fisheries, which was established in 1986, is equipped with a highly modernised fishing fleet. It catches migrating fish in fishing grounds far off the coastline and cultivates them in efficient and eco-friendly fish farms and also operates a research fish farm in cooperation with Fisheries Science College of Pukyong National University in South Korea for the testing and cultivation of new fish species.
The new local company is 98 percent Namibian-owned and currently employs 70 Namibians and 84 foreign workers. Moreover, the company hopes to have 150 locals in its employ by the end of the year and at least only 20 foreign workers as part of its plans to progressively scale down the foreign component of its workforce.
According to its principals, Insung Namibia has no intention to interfere in existing export markets of the already established fishing companies and would rather embark on establishing new trading ventures for its fisheries and marine products.
The three-month-old and majority Namibian-owned company has already acquired a sufficient quota to start production immediately, but it faces an uphill battle against already established fishing companies that regard the new firm as a major competitor in the fishing industry. Last week, Insung Namibia was criticised by some key players in the fishing industry and unionists for employing Koreans while so many Namibian are still unemployed. However, during an interview with New Era last Friday the managing director of the company Richard Metcalfe said the company has no intention of sidelining Namibians when it comes to employment.
“In fact we made sure that we employ an understudy for every Korean working on our vessels, since we will gradually phase out most foreign workers,” said Metcalfe. He explained that the new company, as a precautionary measure, decided to bring in Koreans to train locals, especially because crab fishing, for example, is a relatively dangerous occupation that requires training to avoid unnecessary injuries. According to Metcalfe, the company has already hired 70 Namibians and plans to recruit another 40 in due course.
2013 New Era