© Blumar
Following the devastating fire which destroyed Blumar’s Entrevientos salmon processing plant earlier this year, the seafood producer has announced the opening of a new facility to restore the company’s processing capacity. Whilst the fire thankfully resulted in no injuries, the destruction of the plant resulted in unemployment for 760 people.
In the months following the incident, Blumar stated that it began to design plans to allow the operation in Magallanes to continue, maintaining at least some local employment.
“We are committed to this region, which has great potential for development around salmon, and for this reason, we are working hard to resume the process in Punta Arenas as soon as possible, which has meant a great effort for the company,” said Blumar general manager Gerardo Balbontín, in a press release.
Blumar has announced that it has already started operations at the Magallanes plant. The company reported that it invested close to $1 billion in the start-up and that it has a maximum monthly processing capacity of 3,960 tonnes.
“This is a very important milestone, as it will allow us to operate efficiently in Magallanes and contribute once again to regional employment, which was strongly impacted by the unfortunate fire in Entrevientos. We hope that at full operation we will be able to have 450 workers, many of them former employees of the plant that was destroyed and with whom we have a firm commitment,” said Blumar’s process manager, Fernanda Taboada, who is leading the plant’s start-up.
