Immanuel Rasmussen, father of the present owner Børge S. Rasmussen, started on his own as a farrier 1 May 1947, after buying the company he have been working in for some years, at Englandsgade 13 close to Esbjerg harbour. The first years Immanuel was occupied with repairing horse-drawn carriages and horseshoes. He was quite an inventor, and in 1954 by request of fishing skipper Arno Sørensen, he developed the first mechanical unloading machine. The machine was a revolution within unloading of fish, which up to that time was done manually. Around 1955 he moved to the present address and the name IRAS was formed, and for some years up to 1960, Arno Sørensen was his partner. The unloading machine was known both within the borders of Denmark and outside, and for many years it was the foundation stone in the company’s further development. Later came the tip waggon for transport of fish, and in the sixties IRAS made the first automatic scales for weighing of fish, then came mechanical grading and ice dosing machines for fishing vessels, drum washers, mincers and prefabricated model built rectangular silos for storage of fish, which is still considered as a unique IRAS invention.

IRAS achieved another breakthrough in the seventies with the development of pneumatic suction/unloading systems, which rapidly became extremely popular throughout the Scandinavian fishing industry. The success of these systems led to the development of other revolutionary products, e.g. where IRAS introduced the advanced PV-system (Pressure/vacuum), which ensures the most gentle treatment of the fish with emphasis on gentle handling, which was the foundation of export to the whole world.

The IRAS PV-system is offered in many models with capacities from 5 – 500 t/h with pumping distances up to 2 km, and to this date our biggest success.

IRAS is a modern and innovative company specialising in a great variety of products. The company has its own R&D department, where new ideas arise and take shape from design/engineering(CAD) to the construction of prototypes and testing of the equipment prior to delivery and installation.

The first mechanical unloading machine built in one month from April to May 1954.

1 April 1984 IRAS bought Børge Venøf´s Maskinfabrik, Skippergade1 in Esbjerg. The company was renamed to IRAS Marine and moved later to Molevej 30 at Esbjerg Harbour. For the next 17 years up to 1. July 2001, where the company was sold, the activity in IRAS Marine basically was ship repair work.

Article about a suction unloading system built in 1976.

The IRAS system is sold worldwide as a combined unloading system featuring automatic weighing, grading, ice dosing and transport directly to storage facilities, internal distribution systems, etc. IRAS’ equipment and of course its new-developed grading machines are installed in a large number of the worlds most advanced fishing industries, but also for instance in fish farms, where the popular live-fish pumps, graders and slaughtering lines fully meet the requirements as to gentle and effective handling of live fish.

48 Pumping fish with the environmentally friendly IRAS PV system Video