Marine Harvest and Deep Sea Supply PLC announced that they have entered into a Heads of Agreement to establish a 50-50 owned aquaculture shipping joint venture that is to build, own and operate aquaculture vessels. Marine Harvest and Deep Sea Supply believe there is significant room for efficiency improvements across the value chain in aquaculture shipping, ranging from reduction in new building cost to more cost-efficient operations. Accordingly, Marine Harvest aims to significantly reduce costs related to vessel services through establishing the joint venture.

The joint venture expects to enter into contracts for the construction of aquaculture vessels which will be chartered by Marine Harvest upon delivery. Current discussions indicate a substantial reduction in new building cost compared to solutions provided by alternative aquaculture providers. The joint venture entity will be Marine Harvest's preferred provider of aquaculture vessels.

The intention of the joint venture is to also compete for external contracts.