Shrimp processors find new home in Harlingen

HARLINGEN — A Rio Grande Valley shrimp processor and another cold storage and food packing company are merging, a move expected to add 100 jobs to the local economy and, the companies hope, allow a more diversified product line.

South Texas Shrimp Processors is moving its shrimp freezing and packaging plant from a 42,000-square-foot facility in San Benito to a 71,000-square-foot facility in Harlingen, according to Matt Gorges, chairman, and Robert Dalzell, president.

Harlingen and the city’s development corporation approved a $363,500 grant to partially fund the move as long as the company invested at least $3.5 million.

South Texas Shrimp Processors is also merging with Harlingen-based Valley International Cold Storage Inc. and its Express Food Pac division to form a holding company called U.S. Packers and Processors, which will be owned by a group of local investors.

Gorges will be chairman and president of the holding company, and Dalzell will be vice president.

The agreement with the development corporation requires South Texas Shrimp Processors and Valley International Cold Storage to employ 358 full-time workers within three years, which would boost employment at the two companies by 107 positions.

The move and reorganization will allow the company to have more processing and freezing capacity, and its owners hope to diversify its product line to be able to process food year-round, instead of being so dependent on seasonal shrimp cycles.

For the move, South Texas Shrimp Processors acquired the Advance Foods processing plant in a cash sale in which the shrimp processing company will invest about $4 million to move and set up operations.

The San Benito plant will be sold to a Valley-based okra and spinach processor.

South Texas Shrimp Processors processes and packs Gulf Coast shrimp from waters off the coasts of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and Texas, including some that come through Brownsville and Port Isabel. It also processes some local farm-grown shrimp.

Matt Whittaker covered regional business, economics, finance and social issues for Valley Freedom Newspapers.