Founded in 1968, Laval’s Pelican International has become the world’s largest plastic boat manufacturer. Currently, its kayaks, stand up paddle boards, canoes, fishing boats, pedal boats and utility sleds, are distributed and sold in 53 countries. In the fall of 2014, Pelican produced its two-millionth watercraft, a figure that’s well since been surpassed.
After achieving significant growth in the outdoor sports market, Antoine and Christian Elie, owners of the enterprise since the 1980’s, are pleased to announce the opening of a second major production facility, to be situated in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, a southern city in the province of Quebec.
“We are very proud to take this important step forward for Pelican. For a while now, our Laval factory has been operating at maximum capacity, along with various storage facilities across Quebec. The time had come for us to seriously grow our production capabilities,” stated Mr. Antoine Elie and Mr. Christian Elie.
“It gives us great pleasure to join in this exciting announcement. We welcome Pelican to the heart of our dynamic logistics and industrial park. Aside from the creation of jobs, which is excellent news for the region, the arrival of Pelican reinforces our predilection for water sports,” proudly declared Denis Lapointe, Mayor of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield and President of the Centre for Local Development for Beauharnois-Salaberry (CLD). Moreover, Mayor Lapointe is pleased with the efforts to welcome and support this project by the CLD team and the city of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield’s industrial, engineering and urban development services.
Pelican has invested tens of millions of dollars in this project in the medium term, principally for the purchase of cutting edge production line equipment. The Quebec government will invest more than two million dollars in this project. Approximately 180 new jobs will be created in the region in the medium term.
