 Guano was collected and sold annually, and expansion of the platform continued at a slower pace until 1937, when a large shipment of timber allowed building the platform out to its current size of 17,000 square meters.The guano collected from Bird Island is considered high quality for its high nitrogen content relative to other guano collection facilities in the region.It is cleaned in Swakopmund to remove feathers and other debris, ground to a powder, and exported to Belgium for US$285 per ton.