Pictured L-R: KIK CFO Steve Jackson, Plant Manager Donald Brunette, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, and KIK COO Jeff Schmitt at the ground-breaking ceremony forBioLab's Lake Charles, La. plant.
Pictured L-R: KIK CFO Steve Jackson, Plant Manager Donald Brunette, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, and KIK COO Jeff Schmitt at the ground-breaking ceremony forBioLab's Lake Charles, La. plant.

Almost a year after being hobbled by fire, BioLab's Lake Charles, La. plant is undergoing reconstruction.

Crews broke ground on the facility in late June, at a ceremony attended by Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards.

The facility was left inoperative in August, 2020 by a fire related to Hurricane Laura. As the factory was a major source of the stabilized chlorine product trichlor, its downing significantly contributed to a shortage of the sanitizer at the height of the COVID demand peak.

BioLab/KIK officials said that the company plans to maximize its investment with improvements to the property.

“The $170-million investment that KIK is going to deliver on will improve and make this facility more efficient and flexible," said KIK CFO Stephen Jackson. "It will be a state-of-the-art plant that will significantly increase our capacity.”

The manufacturer is aiming for a spring 2022 reopening of the facility. “The shortage resulting from the shut-down of tour facility is impacting pool retailers and pool owners across the country and they are eagerly awaiting our plant to be operational and to fill the gap,” said BioLab President, Jon Viner

In the meantime, the company says, "it will continue sourcing raw materials from global sources in order to fuflill the ongoing need for chlorine sanitizers in the US and Canadian markets."