Spanish Albacora Group Sees Future In Ecuadorff

The Spanish Group Albacora, one of the most important in the tuna business worldwide, recently visited Ecuador. The group has already invested USD 36 million through their Ecuadorian company Salica, located in Posorja. Once this project is concluded, its investments will have reached USD 45 million, representing the greatest investment completed during last years in the Ecaudorian tuna sector.
 
During an interview, the President of Albacora, Ignacio Lachaga Bengoechea, commented on the reasons for choosing Ecuador, and informed about the goals the group wants to achieve. He commenced by saying that the Albacora Group started its fishing activities 30 years ago. “We began in the Atlantic Ocean with only two vessels, and slowly developed our fishing activities, moving towards the Indian Ocean, where we currently have the largest presence and potential, and finally reaching the Oriental Pacific Ocean”.  At the moment the group has a fleet of 27 vessels, of which 15 are tuna purseseiners.

”Although at the beginning the group’s main activity was only fishing, we soon faced the need to get involved in the processing of tuna”, he said. “Thirteen or fourteen years ago, we came across a company located in Bermeo, Spain, that was going through a rough time. We decided to take over the company; we restructured it, and further developed it and therefore became part of the Spanish processing sector. Bermeo is a very important fishing port, where the Spanish tuna fishing fleet began.

Apart from Albacora’s tuna processing activities in Bermeo, it is now also producing in Ecuador, at the Salica plant. Both tuna factories are processing frozen tuna loins and other new products.

Mr. Lachaga explained that the choice to invest in Ecuador was because the group initially had a six-vessel-fleet operating from this country. The Ecuador was facing logistic difficulties, such as which port was best to unload the cargo, where should the tuna be sold, which port to be used for the vessels maintenance etc. “There were times”, he said “when we sent the spares parts to one port while the vessel needing the repairs was unloading in another. We could not continue this way”.

“After thorough research, we realized that by being located in Posorja is a great opportunity since the area is a place with a tuna fishing tradition, and the country has the largest EPO fleet, with traditions in their processing and fishing system much similar to the Spanish, as well that it already had an infrastructure.”
 
“The cannery that Salica took over in Ecuador had been inactive for a long time, but it had its own small pier. We analyzed the issue and investing on it was the outcome. As we already have the experience with fisheries and canning, we started our own tuna settlement. We also decided that freezer-rooms were needed because in good moments of catches it is necessary to be able to pile-up tuna to prevent a drop in prices.”
 
“We also noted that we needed services to supply our fleet and piers, so it was noticeable that we were almost about to become a fully vertically integrated industry.  Initially we made our decision based on the idea of starting something small, only to take advantage of the captures with small fish sizes that have no profitable commercial value to be transported for processing to Europe, specially in Spain”, Mr. Lachaga said.

“We believe that fast processing of caught raw material is becoming a business that in a short time, we believe, that will become the mostly commonly used way to trade tuna. Therefore we think that soon most of the commercialization will be done by tuna canned and packed at origin. Many European industries will need to make changes in the way they use their labor.”
 
“In our view Ecuador has a great potential due to its closeness to the tuna fishing grounds and also to the places that manufacture the tuna. We saw the need to make a bigger investment than what we expected in the beginning. We really wish that the local industries in Ecuador become friends, since we do not want to make money at the sacrifice of other tuna industries in the local sector, by taking away its current business”, he noted.
 
Mr. Lachaga finally remarked that with Albacora establishment in Ecuador they are looking forward to get back many markets that have been lost as England, Germany, Belgium and Holland, where they once had an important presence.