Business Briefs
Business Briefs
Samoa
American Samoa remains the main export market for Samoa, according to a Central Bank of Samoa's report in late December that shows the total export earnings up to October were US$12 million, a 13 percent drop from 1999.
American Samoa
Chicken of the Sea Samoa Packing's mother company is now solely owned by Thai Union International of Thailand, which bought out its partners Tri-Marine International of California and Edmund Gann, a San Diego-based owner-operator of a tuna fleet. The December sale is estimated at $38.5 million.
- ADVERTISEMENT -
British Petroleum (BP) has taken over as the interim terminal operator for the government-owned Gataivai Tank Farm facility. The deal was finalized just 72 hours before the December 31 deadline when Tesoro pulled-out. BP has absorbed about 20 Tesoro employees. Taulapapa Will Sword, former Tesoro manager, has taken over as Tank Farm manager for BP.
Daewoosa Samoa shut down in mid-January. It will continue until the company comes up with $100,000 to get production restarted, general manager Ben Solaita said. “There is no money to operate the company.”
Northern Marianas
Two new hotels will rise in the tourist district of Garapan as an immediate result of a newly-signed law granting tax breaks to investments in the CNMI. One of the new investments will be a floating hotel, the other a high-rise hotel. The new law came into effect two months after the Governor Tenorio approved free trade zones be set up on Saipan, Tinian and Rota to diversify the local economy.
Guam
Aquaculture farmers on Guam are organizing themselves in an effort to stabilize, identify and meet the demands of local and export markets, according to Karen Marchesseault and Art DeOcampo. The biggest concern is the inability to meet demand for locally grown Tilapia and marine shrimp. There are five farms and about a dozen "backyard farmers" of Tilapia, milkfish and catfish who sell to Guam’s restaurants, roadside stalls and weekend flea markets. It’s estimated Guam’s commercial aquaculture production in 1998 was $1.7 million. The new group is called GADA (Guam Aquaculture Development Association) which also means ‘animal’ in the Chamorro language.
Yap
Yap’s Marina Complex, a popular open-air restaurant and bar, is under new management that plans to upgrade the facilities by extending the open-air deck, build a stage for entertainment and remodel the kitchen and menu. Behind the plan are foreign investors Anton Nigg and Ted J. Glenn, who have renamed the facility Yacht Club of Yap.
