Cape Bald Packers Ltd. plans to build a new lobster processing plant to replace the two facilities it lost to fire earlier this year.
The 50,000-square-foot plant will be built in Cap-Pelé, near the location of the site of its previous plant, which was lost in a fire on Sunday, 24 February. The plant employed 500 workers involved in freezing and packing lobsters, and was declared a total loss, though it was covered by insurance.
Cape Bald Packers, which is one of Canada’s leading processors of Atlantic lobster and snow crab, said the new facility will employ approximately 300 workers. It also will continue to operate a smaller plant in Cap-Pelé, which processes snow crab and Prince Edward Island mussels and houses the company’s corporate headquarters.
In the 2 October announcement, the company said it will not rebuild a separate plant in Richibucto-Village, which is about 80 kilometers up the coast from Cape-Pelé. That plant, which burned to the ground on Thursday, 7 February, employed 150 to 200 people.
“Our association with a number of nearby processing operations and the reconstruction of Cape Bald’s second facility in Cap-Pelé, have made it possible to consolidate production in the most efficient way possible in the best interest of our suppliers and customers,” Cape Bald Packers Director Doris Losier said. “Even though the majority of our Richibucto-Village workers have already secured alternate employment, we will honor our promise to affected employees to ensure that everyone can find employment within our operations or at nearby processing plants.”
Cape Bald Packers sells most of its products through the Downeast Specialty Products brand, exporting primarily to the United States, as well as Europe and Asia, according to the company.
“2019 has been one of the most challenging years in our 70-year history as a company. We are so grateful to our employees, our customers and our suppliers who have stood by us as we regrouped as a company, retooled our main plant and were successful in making arrangements with partner companies to assist in processing our raw materials with minimal disruption,” Losier said. “We are thrilled to be moving forward quickly to rebuild our second Cap-Pelé facility and look forward to the 2020 processing season.”
In its statement, the company did not address speculation that arson was a possible cause for one or both fires. In February 2019, David Deveau, the president and CEO and CEO of Riverside Lobster, which is owned by private equity group Champlain Financial Corporation, which purchased Cape Bald Packers in February just before the fires occurred, told SeafoodSource the company had questions about what caused them, given the close timing between them.
“If it was bad luck, we’ll have to live with it. If it was something else, that’s very unfortunate and discouraging,” he said. “As a group, we are only trying to do good things. It’s all about supporting a growth that is there to build on – improving quality and expanding markets. That vision will be a win for everybody. There’s a great market in lobster, but if you can’t supply it properly or protect it, you lose it in time.”
