German aquaculture company Oceanloop plans to expand its shrimp farming capacities in Europe to over 2,000 tons of annual volume by 2027. The expansion will be done in conjunction with the construction of a dedicated hatchery for the production of shrimp larvae.

The company, previously known as Crusta Nova, has been operating two shrimp farms in Germany since 2015. Oceanloop Munich GmbH (the Bavarian Shrimp) was the European first mover in land-based shrimp farming and Oceanloop Kiel GmbH (the Kiel Fjord) has also been farming shrimp with a prototype of Oceanloop technology since 2015. Aquaculture engineering company neomar, now known as Oceanloop Engineering GmbH, provides in-depth technology know-how for the group and third parties.

“The Oceanloop platform technology developed by neomar and Sander Holding sets new standards in land-based aquaculture. The technology has been successfully trialed at Förde Garnelen for the farming of saltwater shrimp, with the invention and development of the Urban Mangroves being a significant milestone, enabling the scalability of the technology today,” said Bert Wecker, co-CEO at Oceanloop.

The company is now looking for investors to finance the European scale-up with a total investment of EUR 150 million. Internationalization of Oceanloop farms to other import-dependent markets such as the USA, Middle East or Japan is also planned.