Starkist Samoa is anxious to get a signed lease for space at the government shipyard to build cold storage to support its cannery operation.
With access to fishing grounds still not 100% even with the signing of the new US Pacific Tuna Treaty, cold storage capacity becomes even more important because it allows the cannery to stock up on fish supplies when they are plentiful and avoid a supply problem.
When Starkist shut down the week of White Sunday it said lack of cold storage onto a short contributed to the short supply of fish.
The cannery has also indicated that while it usually shuts down for two weeks during the Christmas and New year holidays, it may be forced to shut down for three weeks this holiday season if its fish supplies are not adequate.
In October, the chairman of the Shipyard Services Authority, Director of Commerce, Keniseli Lafaele revealed that Starkist will be allocated space in the Satala shipyard to build its cold storage.
When asked today about the status of the lease, Lafaele said that discussions with StarKist are progressing and a lease has not yet been signed.
Asked about the size of the space for StarKist, Lafaele said it’s sufficient to meet their need for increased cold storage capacity and not compromise operations at the shipyard.
He said exact square footage is being worked out.
The lease rate has yet to be determined.
As for the time frame that StarKist will move onto the site, Lafaele said this will happen as soon as the lease agreement is signed and StarKist is ready to start construction.
He’s optimistic that a lease agreement will be signed between ASG and StarKist.
