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Commerce backs fishing group loan application
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Posted on Nov 30 2005
The Department of Commerce is calling on the Commonwealth Development Authority to act favorably on the loan guarantee proposal of a group wanting to set up a commercial fishing business in the CNMI.
“We support this investment,” said Commerce economic development officer Glenn Manglona, noting that he will personally attend the CDA board meeting this week to back the loan guarantee proposal of Lady Kimberly.
The company is applying for a $600,000 worth of loan guarantee with CDA.
This amount reportedly covers 30 percent of its proposed investment in the fishing business.
The company’s proposal also calls for a 30 percent equity ownership from the local fishing association in the CNMI.
The company would use two commercial fishing vessels and set up a processing plant on Saipan.
Courtney Ziezke, president of Lady Kimberly, said that the company intends to hire personnel at a higher wage rate.
He said that the company’s name, Lady Kimberly, will soon be changed to Marianas Fisheries Inc., which he said would be 51 percent owned by the NMI.
Ziezke said two long-line fishing vessels, Hunter J and Captain Wade, would be brought to the CNMI for the venture.
The two vessels are currently in Alabama, said Ziezke.
When these two finally arrive in the CNMI, they would be renamed Lady Carolina and Miss Saipan, he said.
Siezke said his groups wants “to start an industry, not just start a company.”
“It’s a very important project for the CNMI,” he said.
