Trident Seafoods has announced the sale of its Ketchikan processing facilities to Silver Bay Seafoods, and the sale of its Petersburg operation to E.C. Phillips & Son.
Trident has not announced buyers for two other Alaska plants it has put on the market in Kodiak, the company’s largest operation in the state, and False Pass, in the Aleutian Islands.
Seattle-based Trident is scaling back its Alaska operations amid weak seafood markets, low prices and changing consumer buying habits. The company has called it “a comprehensive, strategic restructuring initiative.”
The company is keeping its Wrangell plant, with plans to put to work at least 200 people this summer to process, freeze and ship chum and pink salmon.
Trident said last week it expects the sale of its Ketchikan and Petersburg plants to close in April.
The Ketchikan facility is “dedicated entirely to processing salmon,” Trident said. That includes canned, frozen and fresh.
“We look forward to operating the Ketchikan facility, along with our other Southeast facilities in Sitka and Craig, for the 2024 salmon season,” Cora Campbell, president of Silver Bay Seafoods, said in a prepared statement issued by Trident on March 13.
Silver Bay Seafoods started up in 2007 as a salmon processing facility in Sitka and now operates six processing plants in Alaska (Sitka, Craig, Valdez, Kodiak and Bristol Bay) and three on the U.S. West Coast. The company is owned by 600 fishermen who sell their catch to Silver Bay, the statement said.
Silver Bay is one of the largest processors of whitefish, salmon, herring and squid in the state, according to a news report by Ketchikan radio station KRBD.
The company’s business model caters largely to the seine fleet, prompting other gear groups in Ketchikan to wonder about their future role, the radio station reported.
Cody Cowan, a Ketchikan-based troller, said he fished for Trident until the company largely stopped buying troll-caught fish. Now, he said, there is only one buyer for his catch in Ketchikan. He hopes Silver Bay might change that.
Two days after announcing the pending sale of its Ketchikan operation, Trident reported it has reached a deal to sell its Petersburg plant to E.C. Phillips & Son. The sale includes the processing plant, bunkhouse, galley and two housing units.
E.C. Phillips & Son has year-round seafood processing operations, according to the statement issued by the two companies. “This means that the Petersburg plant could enjoy a longer season than it did under Trident’s banner,” Jeff Welbourn, Trident’s senior vice president of Alaska operations, said in the announcement.
Established in 1926 by Edward Phillips, E. C. Phillips & Son operates out of Ketchikan and Craig.
All of the companies involved in the deals have declined further comment until the sales close.
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