THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 5, 1996 TAG: 9610050384
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: 59 lines
Now Howell Carper won't have to explain why his seafood company is located 170 miles away from the ocean.
Iceland Seafood Corp., a Camp Hill, Pa.-based seafood processor and distributor, will move its North American headquarters to Newport News, investing more than $19 million and creating 225 local jobs, Gov. George F. Allen announced Friday.
Carper, Iceland's president and chief executive, said the move will allow the company to take advantage of more efficient transportation and distribution in Hampton Roads.
``We wanted to make a major capital investment in our business as a whole,'' he said. ``We're seeing our customers' needs changing and we want a more efficient business.''
Iceland's capital investment is the largest in Newport News since Canon Virginia Inc. opened in 1986, said Newport News Mayor Joe Frank. Company officials expect the work force to eventually reach as many as 350 people. Carper expects fewer than 100 employees from the company's current location to transfer, leaving more than 125 jobs open initially for local hires.
Starting pay for employees will average $8 per hour and can reach $10 per hour with benefits, Carper said.
Iceland Seafood Corp. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Iceland Seafood International PLC. Headquartered in Reykjavik, Iceland, the company has four other subsidiaries, in Germany, France, Japan and the United Kingdom. Iceland sells packing material and fishing gear in addition to its core business marketing seafood.
Its Pennsylvania operation processes frozen fish and distributes the products throughout the western hemisphere.
The company expects to ship more than 60 million pounds of fresh and frozen fish through Hampton Roads' harbor. By moving to Hampton Roads, the company expects to save a penny a pound on its shipping costs, said John Munick Jr., chairman of the Newport News Industrial Development Authority. That's $600,000 a year.
Iceland's arrival in the region will be a boon to the local port.
The fish that the company processes is all imported, primarily from Iceland and Russia. Carper said those imports will shift to Hampton Roads, mainly from Gloucester, Mass.
The company processes fish from all over the world and supplies seafood to the nation's largest restaurant chains. It also supplies many public school systems. Its revenues reach $120 million annually, Carper said.
Construction on the company's site in Oakland Industrial Park will begin immediately. Newport News-based W.M. Jordan Co. will build the new 165,000-square-foot facility at the intersection of Enterprise Drive and Pickett's Line in the north end of the city. The company plans to be operating at the site by the third quarter of 1997.
The location is in an enterprise zone, allowing Iceland to benefit from tax credits. The Governor's Opportunity Fund will give $500,000 to the Newport News Industrial Development Authority to offset the infrastructure costs in preparing Iceland's facility, Allen said. That money will be matched by the city.
Virginia beat the Carolinas in its effort to woo Iceland to Newport News. by CNB