Wrangell Seafoods filed for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday, according to court documents.
The Southeast Alaska seafood processor lists estimated liabilities between $10 million and $50 million.
Wrangell Seafoods owes its 20 largest creditors more than $10 million. Debts include $5.48 million owed to Bahrt & Associates of Portland, Ore.; $1.68 million owed to Wyatt Refrigeration of Edmonds, Wash.; ; $764,346 owed to Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board; $470,660 owed to Badgley Mullins Law Corp. of Seattle; and $349,461 owed to Harris Electric of Seattle.
Wrangell Seafoods processes primarily salmon but also handles king, tanner and Dungeness crab, shrimp, halibut, roe herring, rockfish and sea cucumbers. The company is held by about 21 shareholders representing a cross section of the seafood industry, including fishermen and local businessmen, according to the company’s Web site.
In August, the Alaska Public Radio Network reported that Wrangell Seafoods had received a foreclosure notice from its biggest creditor, Alaska Growth Capital, which lent the company $5.6 million to renovate its processing facility. At the time, Wrangell Seafoods Chairman Doug Roberts said renovations weren’t complete and the company had been in default with AGC for several months. But the company had planned to refinance and finish the project, he said.
“Wrangell Seafoods is continuing to grow and along the way we’ve had some growing pains and challenges,” Roberts told APRN. “But we’ve met them.”
The company’s roots date to 1956 when Harbor Seafoods was formed in Wrangell, Alaska. Harbor Seafoods was purchased by the Alaska Pulp Corp. in 1974 and sold again to J.S. McMillan Fisheries Ltd. in 1984, when it was renamed Wrangell Fisheries.
