MMS to facilitate a steady export vein for MIFCO fish

Maldives State Shipping (MSS) storage facilities is to be used to keep fish frozen until export in a bid to lighten the burden on Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO) to store and export fish, says MSS Director Captain Abdualla Saeed.

Speaking on Raajje TV's "Fala Surukhee" programme, Captain Saeed highlighted that, in addition to being a major vein for imports, the MMS infrastructure could be used to export local goods to international markets, and that this would help ease some of the difficulties being faced by MIFCO in storing and exporting fish supplied by local fishermen.

Captain Saeed also said that MMS would be storing fish in frozen containers that, when filled to full capacity, would be exported as requested by MIFCO to their target markets. In this way, the government hopes to make sure that MIFCO is able to maintain a steady supply of fish exports despite all the current challenges they face in terms of storing and exporting fish through their limited infrastructure.

He went on to detail that MMS would be stationing their freezing storage containers at Felivaru and Kooddoo, where they could be filled and prepared to export, and that this would help curb delays as MIFCO currently charters a boat to export fish with a significantly inconvenient turnaround time. MD Saeed also said that being able to fill up and ship off containers as much as required through the MMS supply vein would ease the load on existing MIFCO holding capacities and help them accommodate fishermen better by providing a less strained storing mechanism for fish.

MMS also plans on exporting processed fish products to foreign markets in addition to frozen catch. The current administration has been taking big steps to rejuvenate the fisheries industry in Maldives by providing workable solutions to the problems currently faced by MIFCO, including efforts to increase the storage, freezing and canning capacity at MIFCO industrial sites within the coming year.