Massachusetts-based shellfish harvester Northern Wind is nearing the completion of its new state-of-the-art 38,000-square-foot processing and freezing facility, according to its co-CEO George Kouri.

The $12 million (€10.7 million) investment in both capital expenditure and plant expansion will allow the company to procure and process approximately three times the amount of scallops daily than it presently can, he told IntraFish.

"Our current IQF (individually quick frozen) freezing capacity was at 5,000-6,000 pounds per hour, and with the addition of the new high speed tunnel we’ll add an additional 12,000 pounds per hour bringing our total hourly freezing capacity to 17,000 pounds per hour," he said.

The plant will be used specifically for individually quick frozen (IQF) sea and bay scallops, and will also house all of the company's fish and value-added items.

The facility, which will create 22 permanent jobs in New Bedford, Massachusetts, includes offices, coolers, along with a refrigerated dock and a 21,600-square-foot holding freezer that has a 5.5-million-pound holding capacity.

Kouri said the new freezer has 3,300 pallet positions that allow the company to be more efficient in its production process.

Scallop outlook for 2020

Northern Wind's biggest markets for scallops this year are in the United States, the European Union (EU) and Asia.

The US Atlantic sea scallop fleet should be able to land 52 million pounds (23,586 metric tons) of scallops during the 2020 fishing year season, which is scheduled to begin April 1. That is about 17 percent lower than the 62.5 million pound (28,349 metric tons) projection for the 2019 season.

Kouri antcipates Northern Wind landing 11.23 million for the 2020 fishing season.

"We anticipate pricing to remain bullish at the outset of the season given the slight reduction in landings over 2019," he said.

Demand has remained high for scallops, particularly in foodservice and retail, according to Kouri, with pricing remaining stable to being on the rise.

Processing

US scallop producer Northern Wind set to triple production capacity