Background

The founders of Heyko BV are the Enkhuizen-based L. Kok International Seafood B.V./Santa Group and W.G. Den Heijer & Zn. B.V. from Scheveningen.

L. Kok International Seafood B.V. and the Santa Group
L. Kok International Seafood B.V., founded by Mr. Lou Kok, has been active in the shrimp sector since 1989. When shrimp peeling was banned in the Netherlands, a number of Dutch companies, including Mr Kok’s company, looked abroad for shrimp peeling facilities. Mr Kok decided on Poland.

While he was in Poland, Mr Kok met Mr. Mikhail Moshensky, from Belarus, and they concluded an agreement for the shrimps to be peeled there. Because there was high unemployment in Belarus and the prospects in Poland were poor, this agreement benefited both parties. In 1991 everything was in place: the first peeling plant in Belarus went into production. It rapidly became such a success that, in 1993, Joint Venture Santa Impex Ltd was founded in Brest.
But shrimp peeling was just the start. The activities and product range were expanded “step by step”, as Mikhail Moshensky so aptly described it. Following on from its shrimp sales, the company moved on to sell herring packed in trays and glass jars, and subsequently opened a soft drinks factory with its own mineral source.

This massive growth meant that a new structure was needed and in 1998, Santa Impex founded a subsidiary, Santa Bremor Ltd. In the years that followed the company steadily continued to introduce new products and factories, and to increase capacity. The total annual Santa Bremor production currently stands at 57,000 tonnes. Its range contains hundreds of products, including ice cream, salads and sauces, ravioli, fish paté and snacks, surimi, caviar, salmon, squid, shrimp and fruits de mer.

The Santa Group now has five catering establishments and 24 supermarkets in Belarus. Over the years, the company has built up an extensive distribution network and has its own transport company (with 16 large and 220 small trucks), cold storage and freezer storage facilities and sales offices in Minsk, Vitebsk, Grodno, Mogilov and Gomel in Belarus; in the capitals of neighbouring countries: Kiev, Moscow, and in Kishinov and Almaty. Exports continue to increase, with customers in 24 countries, including countries in the Far East and Europe, the United States and New Zealand.

In fifteen years, Santa has gained international renown in many parts of the world. With 5000 employees, the Santa Group is one of the largest fish processing companies in the countries of the former Soviet Union.

W.G. Den Heijer & Zn. B.V.

Since the company was founded in 1946, it has grown from a small business operation working from premises measuring only 80m² into an enterprise with the latest equipment, premises of 7100m² and 50 employees. From its inception, Den Heijer specialises an unusually wide range of shrimp and fish products, harvested from seas and rivers all over the world. The company has modern cold storage and freezer facilities, and this technology contributes to the quality of Den Heijer products. Streamlined stock management enables almost every order to be supplied immediately.

For more information about fish and shrimp specialists W.G. Den Heijer & Zn. BV, please visit their website at www.highseas.nl