Surimi stalwart Trans-Ocean Products is jumping into the shrimp business.
The Bellingham, Wash., company announced yesterday that it is adding a shrimp product line to its existing line-up of surimi seafood and smoked salmon products.
Trans-Ocean will receive support from its parent company, Japan's Maruha Nichiro, one of the world's largest seafood companies with USD 10 billion (EUR 7.9 billion) in annual sales and a major player in the global shrimp trade with USD 500 million (EUR 396 million) in annual shrimp sales.
Trans-Ocean will leverage its knowledge of the retail and foodservice markets and customer relationships with Maruha Nichiro's worldwide shrimp procurement and processing capabilities to establish a significant presence in the U.S. shrimp market, said the company.
Also yesterday, Trans-Ocean announced that it has added two shrimp industry veterans to its sales and marketing team: Norio Yanagisawa, who has run Maruha Nichiro's shrimp division for the past 16 years, is Trans-Ocean's procurement and product manager. Bryan Hampton, a former foodservice sales manager at two leading shrimp suppliers for more than 20 years, is the company's national foodservice manager.
"We are excited about the opportunities we can offer our U.S. customers as a vertically integrated supplier of shrimp," said Yasuaki Kawakita, president of Trans-Ocean. "As we expand our portfolio of product offerings, the support of Maruha Nichiro will allow us to make the strategic decisions that will lead to long-term success for Trans-Ocean and our customers."
