New Zealand seafood processor Sealord plans to close its factory in Nelson, jeopardizing 79 permanent jobs.
Today, on 5 September, Sealord announced it has initiated consultations with employees at the coated-products facility. This facility is set to disestablish 57 production positions and 22 management or office-based roles.
CEO Doug Paulin expressed, “Unfortunately, like many manufacturing businesses in New Zealand facing recent closures, we are similarly affected by challenging economic factors.”
He elaborated, “Increasing operating costs—including labor and electricity—as well as freight pressures and requests for higher supermarket margins compel us to reevaluate our management of the retail frozen branded business.” He continued, “Despite the best efforts and mahi of our workers, we may have to exit the frozen coated fish business we have built over the years.”
Paulin emphasized that Sealord represents the “last significant” supplier of frozen coated fish products produced in New Zealand.
In addition to the factory closure, Sealord is proposing modifications to the collective agreement at the Nelson site with unions. These changes affect union workers in land-based facilities, including the wet fish factory, cold store, dry store, and by-products plant.
This closure proposal emerges after a comprehensive year-long review of Sealord’s operations. The review focused on scrutinizing expenditures, eliminating unfilled salaried positions, and “significantly” reducing budgets, as highlighted in the statement.
Amid ongoing rescue efforts, Paulin added, “We’re evaluating land-based factory operations to identify ways to lower operating costs and enhance the economic sustainability of production in Nelson.”
He mentioned, “As part of this, we hope to agree on changes to the collective agreement that will sustain land-based manufacturing operations in Nelson.”
Meanwhile, Sealord is “investigating the possibility of processing and packaging coated products using Sealord-caught fish outside New Zealand to continue offering its coated frozen fish range in both New Zealand and Australia,” according to the statement.
Importantly, the proposed changes will not affect Sealord’s deep-sea fishing operations or its canned tuna product line.
Furthermore, affected staff have been invited to provide feedback, with the consultation period slated to conclude on 26 September. Sealord anticipates finalizing its decisions regarding both the factory closure and collective agreement changes in October.
Challenges at the Nelson operations are not new for Sealord. For instance, in 2014, the company announced plans to cut 97 jobs at its Nelson wet fish processing site, citing that the factory was “not economically viable” in its then-existing form.
At that time, the firm proposed transitioning to a smaller operation focused on higher-value products. Fast forward to 2023, Sealord acquired Independent Fisheries, becoming New Zealand’s largest seafood business.
