Trelew Builds Workforce Ahead of New Seafood Plants, Plans to Expand Processing from Shrimp to Hake, Anchovy and Squid

Gerardo Merino, mayor of Trelew in Argentina's Chubut Province, presented the latest progress at the Trelew free trade zone on November 13, 2026: fencing work in the zone is under construction, and several seafood companies are renovating existing factory buildings in preparation for moving in. Merino toured the area together with local young people, visiting companies already established in the industrial park, companies undergoing expansion, and new companies in the process of installation.

Merino specifically noted that some plants that had previously been shut down and idle are being brought back into use and returned to production, including the former facilities of Propulsora Patagónica — a seafood company has installed cold storage and work tables there for fish processing. He said the free trade zone is a development engine that is already up and running, positioned as a strategic project to drive local and regional economic development.

On workforce preparation, Merino said the municipal employment office receives résumés, organizes them and provides them to newly arriving companies. At the same time, the municipal government is working with the provincial government on a training mechanism for people who wish to enter the seafood processing industry, with the goal that new companies can draw on trained labor as soon as they begin production, avoiding a shortage of skilled workers becoming a constraint on start-up.

On the production mix, Merino pointed out that local seafood processing has long been heavily concentrated on shrimp, and shrimp production is limited by the seasonality of national and provincial fishing seasons. One company currently completing its admission procedures plans to achieve continuous production 12 months a year, processing hake, anchovy and squid during the shrimp off-season. Merino said seafood processing has previously leaned excessively toward shrimp, so it is necessary to train workers able to process other species; this company wants to go beyond the November-to-March shrimp season and produce year-round.

Employment pressure is part of the backdrop to this process. Merino mentioned that every investment announcement raises expectations in a city with strong demand for jobs. According to the most recent measurement by Argentina's National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC), Trelew's unemployment rate is 7.7%, compared with 7.1% in the previous quarter. Merino said some companies prefer to maintain a high degree of confidentiality during the admission process, so not all projects are made public at the same stage. Infrastructure work and factory renovations are still underway, and the municipal government is working to link the intake of job applications with the training of future workers.