EDA exploring shrimp harbor requirements

tru Shrimp general manager expected at Aug. 14 EDA meeting

Michael Ziebell, tru Shrimp general manager

The Pipestone Economic Development Authority (EDA) has taken a step to learn what it takes to bring the the aquaculture industry to town.
Balaton-based tru Shrimp announced last month that it’s planning to build a 9-acre shrimp harbor on a 30-acre parcel in Luverne that’s west of U.S. 75 and visible from Interstate 90. The company is also planning a hatchery and the renovation of a vacant processing facility in Marshall to handle more than 8 million pounds of shrimp annually.
An affiliate of Ralco, tru Shrimp also plans a training facility in Balaton for workers.
Pipestone Mayor Myron Koets, who also sits on the EDA, asked the EDA during its July 10 meeting if it were willing to spend some money to learn if Pipestone had what it took to be one of two additional shrimp harbors that truShrimp has indicated it wants to construct in addition to the Luverne facility.
“To do this, it’s not just like raising your hand and saying you want a harbor,” Koets said. “You’ve got to make a pitch to the company.”
Given that the Luverne harbor won’t be built and in production until 2019, Koets said they had time to start looking into the infrastructure requirements, including water, sewer and electricity. Envisioning a joint effort between the Pipestone City Council and the EDA, Koets said they would need to get city buy-in, and also identify land.
“Where it’s going to go is going to dictate what infrastructure we have to bring to it,” Koets said.
If there is a group of people who wants to invest in the project, they’re also “going to need to start nailing down who they are and how much they’re willing to give,” Koets said.
Koets said the Southwest Regional Development Commission (RDC) had prepared a report of infrastructural requirements for Luverne when the city was courting tru Shrimp and the RDC had indicated it could do the same for Pipestone.
The EDA asked City Administrator and Acting EDA Director Jeff Jones to ask the RDC to attend its next EDA meeting to learn what the organization could do to help them explore Pipestone’s shrimp harbor potential.
The EDA board may instead be caught up to speed directly by Michael Ziebell, tru Shrimp general manager. Speaking by phone from Balaton, Ziebell told the County Star on Monday that he had been invited to the EDA’s Aug. 14 meeting, and that he thought he could make it work to attend.
Early on when large vacant buildings existed in Pipestone, such as the former Suzlon building, Pipestone had been part of truShrimp’s early conversations for shrimp harbor locations, Ziebell said.
“But then as the engineering picture of the harbor grew, it became more efficient to greenfield the building,” he said.
Ziebell said their goal is to build three shrimp harbors within the next five years, with many more after that. As for the processing facility that they’ll be constructing out of the vacant USDA plant in Marshall, “we think that can handle two harbors,” Ziebell said. “Beyond that, we don’t know. If we get to a third harbor, it means we’re doing really well.”
The second harbor location has not been decided, Ziebell said, though, “Marshall is certainly a lead candidate. We’ve also been in conversations for a year with Lamberton.”
When asked what he looks for in a harbor location, Ziebell said water was primary, labor secondary. The harbor will need 14 million gallons of water to fill production basins, about 60,000 to 100,000 gallons per day to operate, and would have its own wastewater facility.
“One of the most significant things is do they have ample water,” Ziebell said. “We do not want to come in and cripple a community’s water supply. Then, we have to have a labor force of 60-70 people to equip a harbor, so there has to be an employee base.”
The Luverne shrimp harbor is expected to be in production in 2019. Two years after that, Ziebell said he hopes to have broken ground on a second shrimp harbor.