Huon Aquaculture's $12m value-added seafood processing facility

The Huon Aquaculture Group, which produces around 15,000 tonnes of fresh salmon per year, has started construction on a new $12 million value-added seafood processing facility at Parramatta Creek in northern Tasmania.

The value-added products to be processed at the new facility include hot and cold-smoked salmon, gravalax and other premium gourmet products. The new facility is expected to employ around 100 people when it opens its doors at the end of the year.

Specialist food processing design and construction firm Wiley has been commissioned to deliver the new facility, and plans to employ an estimated 100 local tradespeople during the construction phase. Wiley Managing Director Tom Wiley said the new facility will be the most advanced of its kind in Australia.

At 2500 m² the new facility will be about double the size it is today. It has been designed to maximise linear flow and provide complete segregation between hot and cold smoked processing. A suspended walkway across existing and new processing facilities will provide access to staff entry areas, as well as viewing facilities for customers and visitors. Visitors will get to see firsthand Huon’s clean, efficient and transparent fish processing facility.

Additional works will include an upgrade to the existing fresh salmon processing facility, a new office and staff amenities building, extended car-parking facilities and other associated civil works.

Huon Aquaculture Managing Director Peter Bender said, “The new smokehouse and new product centre is part of a four-year, $100 million controlled growth strategy for the company which consolidates our operations to Tasmania, delivers increased production capacity and efficiency whilst reducing our environmental footprint.”