Intershell steps into new era on Gloucester harborfront

Intershell International Corp.'s attractive, modern one-acre seafood complex at 52 Commercial St. is just about done.

Its office, processing, receiving and shipping center, marina building and refurbished wharf, soon-to-open fish market — and its paved parking lot and roadway between the buildings — mark a complete revolution from what was there, creating an asset for Gloucester and its working waterfront.

"We knew that we had outgrown our facility at Harbor Loop and that we had to relocate a portion of it either at an industrial park or along the waterfront with vessel access," Monte Rome explained. He and his wife Yibing own Intershell International Corp., which now employs 55 people and does over $10 million in annual local, regional, national and overseas seafood sales. "This place presented itself well, and it was in a broom-clean position.

"I had been in the clam business prior to coming to Gloucester," Rome said. "I discovered the Stinson clam on Middle Bank (off Gloucester), and I picked Gloucester, since this port was closest to the resource, and it also had the infrastructure, including utilities and labor, to run a clam plant that required 40 to 50 people."

Intershell International Corp.'s tap root began descending into Gloucester soil around 1990 — first at the former FBI (Frontiero Brothers Inc.) Wharf just several blocks away from Intershell's new site, and later at the old Birds Eye building across the street, followed by a move to what was Bob's Clam Shack along East Main Street in 1992 and then to the old Star Fisheries building at Harbor Loop.

The company still leases the Harbor Loop site and runs it primarily as a clam plant, also doing some seasonal northern shrimp processing there.

Intershell no longer has its own clam harvesting vessels.

"We buy clams over the road," Rome explained. "We currently have six vessels supply us from the Cape Cod Bay and Nantucket areas."

Intershell still operates its own shell boat, the Providenza, which docks at Harbor Loop. The vessel disposes of clam shells and their viscera at sea.

The company purchased its new site in March 2008 from owner Billy Tibeau, a real estate developer from Everett who, in turn, bought the property at auction.

"His crews stripped the buildings and got them ready for renovation," Rome said. "The buildings were in solid condition but needed to be renovated and maintained. This was a cold storage and bait-handling facility."

The Romes' company first renovated and then moved into its main shipping, receiving, processing and office building, which also bears Intershell's two overhead blue and yellow, eye-catching signs, before tackling the future Intershell marina building and its adjacent wharf.

Rome said his company rebuilt the approximately 90-by-120 foot wharf and installed a series of floats.

Seven lobster boats now dock at and sell their catches to Intershell. His company also offers those lobstermen bait and ice.

"I'm the smallest lobster dealer in town," Rome added.

Intershell fitted the marina building with a new cooler and further "... brought the water-facing part of the building up to HAACP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) standards," Rome said. A tuna buyer rents that part of the building, while a Gloucester lobster dealer leases space at the harbor end of the main building.

The Romes' last site project, the fish market in the previous business's two-story office building adjacent to Commercial Street, is nearly completed. An office and a kitchen will occupy the second floor of the nearly 200-year-old wooden building, while the fish market, complete with an outdoor patio bordered by an attractive wrought-iron fence, will take up the first floor.

"There will be no service (at the patio). It will be a place for customers to relax and enjoy the ready-to-eat foods we will be offering," Rome said.

The fish market will offer customers "live, fresh and frozen seafoods, prepared seafood items with various accompaniments, including vegetables and breads, salad products, as well as ready-to-eat luncheon and dinner entrees, Japanese sushi ingredients and accessory foods," said Rome.

"We will grill, fry, sautÃ© and bake here," he added. The Romes are working on a name for their fish market, which should be open by the holidays.

Outside of the fish market, Intershell International Corp. offers its customers about 1,000 products. "Clam products are still our foundation," Rome explained.

With Intershell's new site nearly completed, Rome can now say, "I have fulfilled my career ambitions."

Gloucester lobsterman Peter K. Prybot writes weekly for the Times about the fishing industry and related issues.

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