Northline Seafoods Building New Mobile Processor
A rendering shows Gulf of Mexico barge refit as a vessel built for freezing, shipping, storing, and reprocessing Bristol Bay salmon.
Northline Seafoods
Sitka-based Northline Seafoods secured funding to build a mobile commercial salmon processing platform for the Bristol Bay fishery. The vessel is billed as the world’s most sustainable and efficient, a one-of-a-kind vertically integrated processor. And it already has a name: Hannah.
One Ship to Freeze Them
“We developed the Hannah to produce higher quality fish through a more efficient process that benefits both fishermen and customers,” says Northline CEO Ben Blakey. “This project is a continuation of Northline’s commitment to innovation and environmental sustainability in the fishing industry.”
Hannah will deep freeze whole fish offloaded from catcher vessels. At the end of the season, it will haul the load back to its base of Pacific Northwest operations in Bellingham, Washington, where the catch is stored, reprocessed, and distributed year-round all from one vessel.
By consolidating the freezing, shipping, storing, and reprocessing operations, Hannah eliminates the number of intermediate hands that Bristol Bay salmon passes through between the catcher and the customer. And by shipping whole frozen fish to Bellingham at the end of the season, processing can be spread out over time, creating year-round jobs for processors, engineers, maintenance staff, sales and logistics personnel, and corporate management staff.
Northline Seafoods hopes the investment will raise the market quality of the final product while minimizing its environmental footprint. Flash freezing means the salmon’s skin is its protection, so less plastic packaging is needed. Also, every piece of fish is used, meaning less waste.
“We have a long history with and great respect for the Bristol Bay region. Everyone at Northline are excited about this next chapter for our company and our industry,” Blakey adds.
Federal Backing
A rendering shows Northline Seafoods’ Hannah taking on salmon from smaller Bristol Bay vessels.
Northline Seafoods
Construction is planned to begin in Washington in January 2023. The vessel will be built from an existing barge hull that will be towed from the Gulf of Mexico to Washington State.
Northline Seafoods recently closed on a $40 million Food Supply Chain loan backed by the US Department of Agriculture, with an additional $22 million borrowed from Greater Commercial Lending, which provides loans to businesses and organizations in under-served and rural communities.
Hannah, named for the US Navy’s first vessel commissioned in the 1700s, replaces Northline Seafoods’ previous processing barge, SM-3, a former helicopter logging platform that grounded in a windstorm in September 2020.
Making History
The track of oil and gas development in Alaska shows the footprints of bold companies and hard-working individuals who shaped the industry in the past and continue to innovate today. The May 2024 issue of Alaska Business explores that history while looking forward to new product development, the energy transition for the fishing fleet, and the ethics of AI tools in business.