Scrap offer for freighter ‘not very good’

Press, 14 March 1987, Page 33

Scrap offer for freighter ‘not very good’

PA Nelson The long-waiting creditors of the Tongan freighter Tasi, owed a total of $117,000, have been offered a settlement of 50c in the dollar. The settlement depends on the Tasi’s being released from Port Nelson to be towed to Auckland and scrapped — and the creditors are unlikely to agree. The latest development in the saga which began last August when the ship’s cargo shifted and the vessel listed in Cook Strait brought negative reactions from creditors. Nelson Helicopters, Ltd, which initiated the writ of arrest on the ship, called the offer “an insult,” as the firm is waiting for $lO,BOO. “We are not happy with it,” said a spokesman for T.N.L. Freighting, which jp owed $9500.

Marine and General Engineering, Port Nelson, labelled the offer “manoeuvring and duckshoving” and still wanted its $14,000. And Johnson’s Barge Service, Havelock, owed just over $lO,OOO, was seeking legal advice and thought the offer was "not very good.” Creditors have all received letters from Mr Marcus Macdonald of the Auckland law firm, McElroy Milne, acting on behalf of the Cook Island Line, which had chartered the Tasi when the Cook Strait incident occurred. He said Pacific Steel had offered $94,000 for the ship delivered to Auckland. It would cost $57,000 to tow the Tasi to Auckland, leaving $37,000. As creditors were owed a total of $116,785.40, the sale would produce 31.68 c in the dollar.