Seaboard Triumph Foods, the Shawnee Mission, Kan.-based joint venture between Seaboard Foods and Triumph Foods, LLC, announced plans to expand its new pork processing facility in Sioux City, Iowa, to include the addition of a second shift.

The addition of a second shift will allow processing of up to approximately 6 million hogs annually. The plant will employ approximately 2,000 people, including about 200 salaried positions and 1,800 hourly production positions. The plant is currently in the final stages of construction in the Bridgeport West Industrial Park in Sioux City, located north of the Sioux Gateway Airport along the Missouri River.

While the initial startup is anticipated for August, construction of the expansion is expected to begin this spring with completion in the summer of 2018.

The second line will produce fresh pork products for international, retail, foodservice and further processing markets. Currently, Seaboard Foods markets and sells fresh pork processed by Triumph Foods’ St. Joseph, Mo., and Seaboard Foods’ Guymon, Okla., plants to domestic markets under the PrairieFresh premium pork brand and international markets under the Seaboard Farms and St. Joe Pork brands.

“The timing of the expansion for a second shift is a result of growing demand for the Seaboard Foods line of quality pork products as well as ongoing growth in the industry. The support demonstrated thus far by our customers, community, city and state agencies simply gives us great confidence to grow right here in northwest Iowa,” says Mark Porter, chief operating officer for Seaboard Triumph Foods.

In May 2015, Seaboard Foods and Triumph Foods formed Seaboard Triumph Foods, a joint venture with equal ownership, to construct a new pork processing facility in Sioux City, Iowa. Site work began in September 2015.