On July 1, 2026, all integrated custom steel structural components produced by Qingdao Liweiyuan Steel Structure Engineering Co., Ltd. for an Icelandic fishery client passed full inspection and were delivered successfully.
Relying on the technological and cost advantages of China’s steel structure manufacturing industry, domestic steel structure manufacturers are going global steadily to engage in the construction of fishery infrastructure worldwide. With years of experience in heavy steel structures and steelworks for severe special environments, Qingdao Liweiyuan Steel Structure Engineering Co., Ltd. won the tender for a customized fishery farm project along Iceland’s North Atlantic coast. The company builds modern aquaculture facilities that meet polar marine environmental standards for local Icelandic fishery enterprises.
Iceland is a world-renowned major fishery country. Its fishery industry contributes more than 10% to the national GDP, and fishery exports account for over 40% of the country’s total commodity exports. Cold-water seafood including salmon and cod serves as its core export products.
Driven by the rising global demand for high-quality deep-sea farmed seafood, local Icelandic aquaculture enterprises have started constructing new-generation onshore industrial fish farms to replace the traditional open sea cage farming mode. This upgrade can improve breeding efficiency, reduce losses caused by marine disasters and stabilize seafood quality.
Located at high latitudes of the North Atlantic, Iceland is subject to extremely harsh climatic conditions jointly shaped by the North Atlantic Warm Current and polar cold air masses. The winter temperature can drop to minus 20°C; coastal areas are exposed to gales of Force 8 or above all year round, and seawater with high salinity leads to strong corrosiveness.
These harsh conditions set extremely high requirements on the structural strength, anti-corrosion performance, low-temperature resistance and wind resistance of aquaculture steel facilities. Restricted by insufficient local steel structure production capacity and sky-high labor costs, local Icelandic manufacturers cannot finish customized production and installation within the construction period required by the client. After a global public bidding process, Qingdao Liweiyuan Steel Structure was finally selected as the supplier of this project.
First, customized design adapted to Iceland’s coastal terrain and aquaculture technological processes to satisfy the needs of high-density factory salmon farming; Second, full-life-cycle anti-corrosion performance, ensuring the steel structures remain structurally intact for more than 50 years under high salt-fog and high humidity environments; Third, full compliance with EU steel structure construction standards and local Icelandic safety codes; Fourth, completion of the whole process including design, production, on-site assembly and acceptance within 12 months to guarantee the farm’s commissioning before the aquaculture cycle.
Technological Innovations Adapted to Polar Marine EnvironmentsAfter confirming the project requirements, Qingdao Liweiyuan Steel Structure set up a special design team to formulate exclusive design schemes targeting Iceland’s extreme environments. The team maintained full communication with the Icelandic client’s technical team to optimize every design detail.
In consideration of extreme weather such as strong coastal winds and heavy snow in Iceland, Liweiyuan’s design team abandoned the conventional light steel scheme for aquaculture workshops and adopted an integrated heavy steel frame and enclosure system.
The overall structure is designed to bear wind loads equivalent to Force 12 winds and snow loads of one-meter-thick snow. Q355D low-temperature resistant section steel is adopted for all main steel columns and beams, which maintains excellent impact toughness even at an extreme low temperature of minus 40°C and avoids the risk of low-temperature brittle fracture.
The interior of the aquaculture plant is divided into four functional areas based on breeding procedures: layered culture tanks, water circulation treatment area, feed storage area and finished product sorting area. Installation positions for automated aquaculture equipment are reserved, and the overall structural bearing capacity has sufficient margin to support the client’s capacity expansion in the future.
Aiming at the weak bearing capacity of coastal onshore foundations, the design team optimized the foundation structure by adopting embedded pile foundations matched with integral bearing slabs, which greatly improves the overall stability of the building and fits the working conditions of coastal soft soil foundations.
Corrosion under high salinity and high humidity environments is the biggest challenge for marine steel structures. Liweiyuan independently developed a three-layer anti-corrosion protection system exclusively for this project:
1. Steel base materials are treated by sand blasting to reach Sa2.5 blasting grade, removing oxide scales on steel surfaces and enhancing coating adhesion;
2. Epoxy zinc-rich primer is sprayed with a dry film thickness of no less than 80 microns to form a cathodic protection layer;
3. Fluorocarbon topcoat is painted with a dry film thickness of no less than 60 microns. Fluorocarbon topcoat boasts outstanding salt-fog resistance and anti-ultraviolet aging performance, enabling long-term stable protection in strongly corrosive environments.
Secondary anti-corrosion treatment is added to all welding joints to eliminate hidden corrosion risks at connecting parts.
To cut ocean shipping costs and improve on-site assembly efficiency, the design team adopted a modular splitting scheme, dividing the whole fish farm into multiple steel components of standard sizes.
All components complete pre-assembly and integral coating in the factory in Qingdao, and are disassembled and packaged for shipment after passing inspection. Each component is marked with a unique assembly serial number, and construction workers on site only need to hoist and splice components according to the numbers.
This scheme greatly reduces the difficulty of on-site construction, shortens the construction period, and saves the extremely high local labor costs in Iceland.
During the production phase, Liweiyuan implemented full management in line with EU EN 1090 steel structure production standards. Every batch of incoming steel is re-inspected for materials to verify mechanical properties and chemical compositions and ensure compliance with design indicators.
All welding operations are carried out by certified professional welders, and each weld seam passes ultrasonic non-destructive flaw detection before entering the next working procedure.
A closed coating workshop was specially built in the factory with constant temperature and humidity control to prevent insufficient coating adhesion caused by construction under low temperature and high humidity. The dry film thickness of every coated component is tested, and unqualified components must be recoated after rework to completely eliminate potential quality hazards.
After all components were processed, technical representatives dispatched by the Icelandic client came to the factory for pre-delivery acceptance, conducting comprehensive tests on component dimensions, weld quality, paint film thickness and pre-assembly precision. All test data met design specifications and EU standards, so the components smoothly passed factory acceptance.
After the components passed inspection, Liweiyuan’s professional logistics team shipped all components from Qingdao Port to Reykjavik Port in Iceland, completing all export customs declaration and commodity inspection procedures in one stop. Exclusive packaging solutions were matched for oversized components to avoid component deformation and paint surface damage during ocean transportation.
After the components arrived at the port of Iceland, Liweiyuan sent a professional installation team to the construction site to cooperate with the client in foundation verification, component hoisting and splicing construction. All on-site operations strictly followed local Icelandic construction safety regulations and proceeded orderly in accordance with the modular installation process.
Thanks to the complete pre-assembly procedures finished in the factory in advance, there were no problems such as mismatched component sizes and misaligned splicing on site. The overall installation was completed 15 days ahead of the original schedule.
After construction completion, the Icelandic client organized final acceptance, carrying out all-round inspections on structural strength, installation precision and anti-corrosion effect. All indicators reached the design requirements and contractual standards, the project passed acceptance at one time and won high praise from the client.
This customized fishery farm project undertaken by Qingdao Liweiyuan Steel Structure in Iceland not only accumulates practical experience in design and manufacturing of special steel structures for extreme high-latitude environments, but also creates a replicable development model for domestic steel structure enterprises to go global and participate in global infrastructure construction.
The whole implementation process of this project proves that with a complete industrial chain supporting system, mature customized design capacity and strict quality control system, Chinese steel structure enterprises are fully competitive in undertaking high-end global steel structure projects and have prominent advantages in the international special steel structure field.
For overseas clients, choosing Chinese steel structure suppliers can balance engineering quality, cost control and construction cycle, realizing mutual benefit and win-win results for both suppliers and buyers.
With the sustainable development of global industrial aquaculture, various countries will have growing customized demands for professional breeding facilities. Drawing on the technology and project experience accumulated from this Icelandic project, Qingdao Liweiyuan Steel Structure will continuously expand the overseas supporting market of fishery steel structures and provide high-quality customized steel structure products and supporting services for global clients.
Liweiyuan Steel Structure is a leading comprehensive manufacturer of steel structures and metal products in China. It can customize complete metal product solutions for clients and supply high-quality steel structures and metal components with cost-effective prices.
The company can develop steel and steel structure design schemes conforming to American standards, European standards and specifications of various countries and regions. It is equipped with advanced fully automatic production lines and a complete quality inspection system. Its products have obtained multiple international certifications including ISO9001 and CE, ensuring every batch of components meets the technical specifications of the client’s region.
Supported by an efficient service system and stable delivery capacity, Liweiyuan keeps expanding the global market and has established long-term cooperative relations with many countries along the Belt and Road Initiative. It is committed to providing overseas clients with one-stop overall steel structure solutions covering scheme optimization to on-site installation.
