Thursday, December 2, 2010

Adak outlook changes completely

When last we visited the situation with the Adak Island processing plant, landlord Aleut Enterprise and tenant Adak Seafood reported they were trying to work out a settlement of their lease dispute.

Now it appears this has fallen apart. What's more, the Norwegian principal behind Adak Seafood apparently won't be operating the plant during the upcoming cod season.

How does Deckboss know this?

The details are in two very interesting documents filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, where the landlord-tenant fight is playing out.

The first document is this status report to the court. Interestingly, Aleut Enterprise filed this jointly with Independence Bank, which has millions of dollars in outstanding loans at stake and had been an Adak Seafood supporter.

The second document is an e-mail from Asbjorn Drevik of Norway informing Aleut Enterprise that he has been unable to raise the money to operate at Adak.

Well now.

The big questions at this point would seem to be: Who will run the Adak fish plant? And can it be readied in time for the fishing season?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The bank pulled the plug with millions at stake? They must have somebody lined up. Good question though, can it be opened in time?

Anonymous said...

Nope Adak is dead. Right not its just twitching from the remaining hope from a few die hards. No matter how many times the council, state, etc tries to shock it back to life, sooner or later you just got to call the time of death and move on.

Kjetil Solberg did a great job in killing that operation

Anonymous said...

if there is a fish supply and harvesters, there is always reason to open up. i hope something can happen.
i have to agree with the previous person's comment about solberg; he ruined the previous operation.
without him, it can work and thrive.

Bill Harrington said...

Contrary to the above statements, I believe Kjetil did the best he could under the circumstances. When he first opened, I watched him miraculously make something from nothing. He and his friend Trond worked day and night with little help making the place work. If the place went to hell I don't believe it was all his fault. Exorbitant fees and demands from his partners/lessors did not help. I was always treated fairly in my dealings with Kjetil. How many other processors, when the price was low asked "What would be fair?" and gave it to you? My compliments.
Bill Harrington F/V Miss Lori

Anonymous said...

It is true that a lot of demands were placed on Kjetil. Mainly the demand to be paid for services and products rendered.

He was a hard worker and a visionary in many ways. He just wasn't very good at paying all of the bills and that is a death sentence for business. All one needs to do is to ask for a show of hands on who he managed to short and those who got paid. Congratulations to all of the people who did get paid, because many many many people did not and it ruined their lives.

Ray (grumpy) Nelson said...

You know I have been here when Kjetil started out here and he has always been up front with us and the people that won't sign their names are not to upfront with anybody.
He tried to help the people out here and he would also furnish fish and extras for a community fish fry or a crab feed for the community, and also the people that would not sign their names most likely fed off he's fish and crab dinners.
So if you have the guts to send your letter in sign your name
Ray (grumpy) Nelson

Groundswell said...

Kjetil was harmed by the old cabal at the Aleut Corp, just as they trashed development of a lower cost electric utility. Looking for deeper culprits? Try asking why Ben Stevens and Art Hackney were even on Aleut Enterprise Corp's board... and about Ben's defrauding role re the pollock allocations, to enrich himself. You have to ask why NorQuest, Aleutian Spray, Icicle (remember their crimes on exceeding crab caps? - largest fine in NOAA history at one point) and others did not work out a good plant operation there too. Aleut Corp under Vince Tutiakoff Sr. poor leadership was primarily the culprit. So, ease up on Kjetil a bit, as anyone coming into the cartelized fishery business is prey for the corrupt ones.

Yes, it's Stephen Taufen (and I never post anonymous). Indeed, identify yourselves, as there is nothing you can say more critical than I've said on the record, even at RCA, or to FBI, and in a federal case deposition , etc. Wesley should eliminate the ability to even post as Anon! Let's get it all out on the table.