As part of expansion plans,West African leading fishing firm,Atlantic Shrimpers Limited , ASL, has unveiled two state of- the -arts fishing trawlers to further boost its leadership  position in the seafood sector in sub-Saharan Africa.

The  two vessels, ‘Stars I’ and ‘Seven Stars II’ were unveiled by the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri  at  Kirikiri Lighter Terminal Phase I, Apapa, Lagos and formed  part of what has been the largest investment in the West African fishing industry in the last 28 years,demonstrating the company and its  shareholders’ recognition that material investment is essential in  complex and vertically integrated industry.

Commissioning the vessels, Lokpobiri commended the firm on the  feat which he said would not only generate employment, , replace aging vessels and processing technology but also usher in new opportunities.
“Our ultimate goal is to attain self-sufficiency in fish and aquaculture production and the ministry is striving to create an enabling environment for the private sector to thrive and fill in the missing gap as the ministry has placed fisheries and aquaculture top among its value chains development programme.”

“It’s a great privilege that I’m doing this today . ASL has consistently displayed an unwavering commitment to delivering the absolute best to the Nigerian market and beyond, while being environmentally responsible in the process.”
According to the Managing Director of the firm, Kamlesh Kabra, the latest is a proof of company’s continued dedication to invest in Nigeria.
“We are proud of the fact that we are developing products in which Nigeria has a competitive edge, all of which are locally produced and where Nigerians add value within Nigeria. Our continued investment in the sector will definitely  contribute to Nigeria’s food security as well as improve its  trade balance in the international markets”.

ASL notable for the production and exportation of frozen shrimp, fish and value added products ,through its retail outlets, ‘The Fish Shop’ has been active in shrimp trawling since the 1990s when it commenced with just 15 trawlers.

Since then, they have continuously invested in the Nigerian economy, growing the fleet to over 72 trawlers and investing in their own Dry Dock to facilitate in-house maintenance of their fleet.

Source: This Day Live