High Liner, Scotsburn shutter food plants

Two East Coast foodmakers have announced production closures.

High Linger Foods is ceasing some of its operations at an underused seafood plant in New Bedford, Mass.

Ice cream maker Scotsburn, meanwhile, says it will shutter its decades-old plant in Saint John, N.B.

The Scotsburn Ice Cream Company employs 27 full-time and 16 part-time employees at its manufacturing plant near Harbour Station.

The plant opened in 1971 and has been owned by Scotsburn since 2001. It will close in September.

CEO Doug Ettinger says closing the plant is a difficult decision but the company is under mounting pressure to reduce costs and become more efficient in a competitive industry.

Ettinger says workers in Saint John will have the opportunity to apply for jobs at the company's other facilities.

High Liner's value-added fish operation has 35 salaried employees and 167 hourly workers. It will end production by September. The scallop portion of that operation, which will continue to operate, has an additional 25 employees.

High Liner's Lunenberg, N.S. plant, and two others in the United States, have sufficient capacity to make up for the lost output at New Bedford, about 100 kilometres south of Boston accord to the company.

"In 2015, we made good progress . . . and sufficiently increased capacity at our Lunenburg, Portsmouth and Newport News facilities such that they are able, collectively, to absorb the production of our New Bedford facility and still provide sufficient capacity to meet our growth objectives going forward,'' said Keith Decker, High Liner's CEO and president.

The company, which is based in Lunenberg but reports in U.S. currency, estimates the move will reduce annualized operating costs by about US$7 million.

It expects to recognize $5 million of one-time costs, including the impact on employees and inventories.