New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA-headquartered Eastern Fisheries Inc., the world’s largest harvester, processor, and marketer of scallops, on September 15 announced the opening of a factory in Staphorst, Holland. At the same time, it has officially formed a new corporation, Eastern Fisheries Europe (EFE), to spearhead activities on the continent.
The new 23,000-square-foot processing plant, its sixth wholly-owned operation, will provide “real-time” support and service to the company’s customers in the European Union. It will also become a critical part of Eastern’s global supply chain and vertically integrated business approach. The focus will be on sales and distribution of scallop products and live lobsters, with more than 500 metric tons of cold storage and a 20,000-pound lobster holding tank on the premises to support the effort.
“This new processing plant will bring an even better value to our European customers by providing ‘just-in-time’ inventory and more efficient logistics. The centrally located EU facility will ultimately cut the order process time for our overseas customers from roughly 60 days to six,” said Joe Furtado, executive vice president of Eastern Fisheries Inc.
“The Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA) and its regional partner, Oost NV, are very pleased with Eastern Fisheries’ decision to realize this factory in Staphorst, confirming the attractiveness of the Dutch business climate for food processing activities as well as for global supply chain solutions. We look forward to continuing our support for the further development of Eastern Fisheries Europe in the Netherlands,” said Jeroen Nijland, a NFIA commissioner.
Eastern Fisheries has hired Aize van der Sluis, an industry veteran with more than 25 years experience, to serve as managing director of the European operation.
“Aize brings great enthusiasm, energy and experience to the job, we are thrilled to have him lead our European team,” said Furtado. He added that Eastern Fisheries Europe intends to hire up to 50 employees within the first six months of operations.
About Eastern Fisheries
Eastern Fisheries Inc. supplies retailers, foodservice distributors and wholesalers around the world with a wide variety of frozen seafood products ranging from sea and bay scallops to sole, flounder, plaice, and Pacific cod. It also sells North Atlantic live lobster. Founded in 1978 by Roy Enoksen and Frank O’Hara Sr., the company operates 26 scallop vessels, the industry’s largest fleet, with facilities in the United States, China and Europe. Additionally, Eastern Fisheries has an interest in the largest scallop producer in Japan.
