27 March 2020

Moana New Zealand and Sealord Group Limited have been advised by the New Zealand Government that as primary producers, both companies are deemed an ‘essential service’, and our land-based factories and vessel operations can continue to operate for the foreseeable future.

To secure registration as essential businesses with the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI), there are a number of strict safety, health and social distancing requirements that our people and the company must meet, some of which were already in place.

Moana New Zealand and Sealord are:

  • Increasing the physical distance between employees in the factory assembly lines.
  • Severely restricting access to our site, with health checks or health declarations, including temperature checking.
  • Carrying out health and travel screening of all employees and new recruits.
  • Exploring extending vessel trips to reduce people movements nationally as requested by MPI.
  • On-site workers must follow self-isolation and physical/social distancing requirements at home and at work.

We are pleased to be able to continue doing what we do best – providing great quality kaimoana and kai ora from New Zealand to the world, especially in times such as these.

So far, our supply chains are operating as normal however in these uncertain times some sales channels are under stress, and other like retail supermarkets, demand is stronger than normal. Whilst we do not know the global ramifications of all that is currently happening, we are striving as always to do our best. People need to eat – fresh, frozen and tinned food is desirable to consumers, possibly now more than ever. We do need to be realistic that this is a quickly developing situation in New Zealand and around the world, and there are risks to our business operations and supply chains. 

We are fortunate to have excellent people who are keen to do their job and do it well. However, a lack of seasonal workers travelling to New Zealand has meant that Sealord is having difficulty filling roles for our busy hoki season (May to September). Iwi who have whānau looking for employment can find more information about these jobs online: www.sealord.com/nz/careers/.

We will continue to work with Te Ohu Kaimoana to keep you updated on any material developments.