Miami, Florida, U.S.A.-based Blue Star Foods has been given an option from the local government in Beaufort County, South Carolina, U.S.A. to purchase land for a planned expansion of its soft-shell crab recirculating aquaculture system.
The company announced its expansion plan in August 2022, and that it had secured the services of HTH Engineering and Equipment LLC as its RAS technology provider for the project. At the time, the company said it was aiming to build the new facility in Jasper County, South Carolina. The announcement came after the company purchased Gault Seafood and its operations, also located in Beaufort.
Since that time, the company has changed its planned location to Beaufort County. According to a press release, Beaufort County has given Blue Star an option to purchase a plot of 9.47 acres of land capable of accommodating a building as large as 100,000 square feet.
Blue Star CEO John Keeler told SeafoodSource the switch to Beaufort County was mde due to the county government's willingness to work quickly with the company, while permits in Jasper County “were taking too long.”
“Beaufort has been the opposite and very supportive – including a USD 100,000 [EUR 90,000] cash grant toward the cost of the land, among other incentives,” Keeler said. “There are two completely different administrations.”
Blue Star had not yet started construction at the Jasper County site, so switching to Beaufort County had little to no effect on the project, Keeler said. The previous engineering and design plans for the farm remains appropriate for the new location, and HTH Engineering and Equipment remains contracted to build the facility, he said.
“In fact, at the new site, we can build a hatchery as well, which was not in the initial [plan],” Keeler said.
The integration of the crab hatchery, capable of producing 4.5 million crab fry annually, will give Blue Star vertical integration. The company's goal is to operate largest soft-shell crab facility in the U.S. East.
Blue Star plans to invest USD 11.41 million (EUR 10.25 million) into the project. The state government of South Carolina is offering up to USD 3 million (EUR 2.6 million) in incentives for the project via proposed tax breaks, abatements, and other incentives, which will help the company finalize the capital needed to build the facility, according to Keeler.
Until the new facility comes online, Keeler said that the company plans to continue operating the Gault Seafood facility.
“The plan is to keep it running until further notice,” Keeler said.
Blue Star announced on 20 June it engaged in a reverse stock split of its outstanding common stock to raise its per-share price. Blue Star was facing a potential delisting from the Nasdaq Stock Market due to its price dropping below the market's mandated minimum trading value of USD 1.00 (EUR 0.89) per share.
As a result of the stock split, every 20 shares of the company’s common stock was reclassified as one share of common stock. As of 12 July, the stock had reached USD 1.17 (EUR 1.05) per share following the reverse stock split.
Photo courtesy of Blue Star Foods
