Trawler put on market as Sealord reviews fleet

One of Sealord Group's main factory trawlers has been put on the market as part of an ongoing review of the Nelson-based company's fishing fleet.

The move follows weeks of widespread industry speculation about a major announcement from the company.

Chief executive Doug McKay said the 66m Aorere, which primarily targets hoki, would continue fishing and the move was simply a chance to "test the market".

Mr McKay did not expect the vessel to attract much interest because pressures facing the fishing industry meant few international buyers were looking to make major vessel purchases.

"The vessel market around the world is pretty full. It's not easy to sell vessels."

The industry is being hit by a strong New Zealand dollar, high fuel costs, low world commodity prices and poor catch rates.

The Aoraki factory trawler was tied up recently because of a drastic reduction in the national hoki quota.

Mr McKay said Aoraki had been for sale for over a year. It had attracted some interest but no one had made Sealord an offer on the vessel.

He said Sealord, which owns 30 per cent of the national hoki quota, had surplus catching capacity since the Government reduced the allowable catch to 100,000 tonnes, down from 250,000 tonnes, just five years ago.

Mr McKay said the company had recently ended a charter arrangement with one of its Ukrainian fishing trawlers and was reviewing the future of all its vessels given the current downturn in the fishing industry.

He would not comment on rumours that Sealord planned to restructure its shore-based processing operations.

Sealord part-owns the Aorere as part of Friend Trawl, a joint venture with a Norwegian company. The vessel has fished for Sealord since arriving in New Zealand in 1998.

Mr McKay said the ship had two crews of about 30 people each. No jobs would be affected unless a buyer for the ship was found, in which case Sealord would try to redeploy the workers on other vessels, as it had done with most of Aoraki's crew.

Meanwhile, one of the company's joint venture longline vessels, Avro Chieftain, has just left Nelson on a 12-week fishing expedition to the Ross Sea to target ling and toothfish.

The Avro Chieftain has been tied up at Port Nelson for several months as Sealord was unable to put a profitable catch plan together for the vessel.

- NZPA