Tri Marine, owner of American Samoa based, Samoa Tuna Processors (STP), has announced today that canning operations will be indefinitely suspended effective December 11, 2016.

Renato Curto, CEO of the entire Tri Marine Group said, “This is an incredibly difficult decision and one we make with a great deal of reluctance.  Our hearts go out to STP’s employees, suppliers, service providers, and everyone else who depends on STP’s operations.”

An official Tri Marine press release today says, “The challenging economics of canning tuna in American Samoa combined with external factors facing STP make Tri Marine’s private-label focused business model for operating the plant economically unsustainable in today’s market.  Tri Marine is currently evaluating alternatives for the facility including outright sale, preferably to a strategic buyer.”

Tri Marine, a global company, will still continue to meet the needs of its US-based customers through its supply network.

Tri Marine's operations include interest in canneries, fishing fleets, and tuna supply companies.  It supplies tuna raw material, cooked tuna loins and shelf stable tuna products to the global tuna market and is a major supplier of tuna to its American Samoa neighbor, Starkist.

Friday’s Samoa News print edition and online will provide continuing coverage of STP employee reaction, American Samoa Government elected and appointed officials comments, and we will seek additional comments from Tri Marine/STP executives, in an attempt to provide a perspective of how the suspension of operations will affect American Samoa and neighboring Samoa’s economy. 

Just yesterday Samoa's largest private employer, Yazaki EDS Samoa sent shockwaves through the country by announcing it was pulling out next year.

The Samoa News team will strive to help you determine how this significant situation will impact your family.

 (Editor’s Note: Barry Markowitz is a Samoa News columnist “Cool Stuff”, and has been a contributing photojournalist to the paper for 30 years.  From 2011 to 2015 Barry was periodically contracted by Tri Marine and STP as a photojournalist to document plant rehabilitation and production, with imagery featured in company documentaries, the Bloomberg Business News, and the Samoa News, with permission.)