North Atlantic Lobster processor Cape Bald Packers decided to consolidate its operations in Cap-Pele, New Brunswick, with a new facility instead of rebuilding the lobster plant it lost to a fire in the Richibucto Village in February.
The seafood company lost two plants to fires in the span of 17 days earlier this year. The company owns a second processing facility in Cap-Pele, where its corporate offices are located.
Following the fires, more than 450 employees returned to work in Cap-Pele as plans to rebuild the plant were announced.
Construction is now underway on a lobster processing plant where the previous one stood, and it is expected to be up and ready in time for the coming lobster season next May, CBC reported.
"I know this decision will come as a disappointment to our former workers and the broader community," Richibucto division Manager Louis Arsenault said.
The facility had been in operation for almost five decades before Cape Bald Packers acquired it in 2014.
The new consolidated factor will create jobs for 300 people, and the company will try to find jobs for its affected employees in its own operations or nearby processing plants.
However, the decision to consolidate springs from the presence of two other processing plants in the Richibucto-Village area.
The seafood company processes lobster, snow crab and mussels selling its product to the United States mainly, but exporting a portion to Europe and Asia as well.
