‘I felt stronger knowing I had a job’ - more than 300 workers face axe in ‘devastating’ blow for ‘small town with good vibe’

Sunday, 21 September 2025

Maria Hemara is facing redundancy from her much-loved job at Carter Holt Harvey's Eves Valley Sawmill.

Nelson resident Maria Hemara is one of 142 workers at Carter Holt Harvey’s Eves Valley Mill facing redundancy in coming weeks.

Two other Nelson manufacturers, Sealord and Proper Crisps, have also proposed laying off staff.

The flow-on impact to local companies is yet to be seen, Chamber of Commerce chief executive Ali Boswijk said.

Facing redundancy in a few weeks, Maria Hemara said she feels like a stranger in her own home.

“I felt stronger knowing that I had a job, because it’s everything,” said Hemara, who has worked at Carter Holt Harvey’s Eves Valley Sawmill for six years.

The closure of Carter Holt Harvey’s Eves Valley sawmill near Nelson is expected to impact the local logging industry.

In a month’s time, she’ll be out of work, along with 141 colleagues, as the company transfers the mill’s workload to a North Island site.

Carter Holt Harvey was the first Nelson manufacturer in recent months to announce lay-offs, then Sealord proposed closing its fish processing factory, cutting 79 jobs, and this week Griffin’s announced it is looking at closing local potato chip manufacturer Proper Crisps and moving all savoury snack manufacturing to its Wiri, Auckland site.

“It’s getting to be a pretty big boat now,” said Hemara, referring to the number of people who will be looking for work.

142 workers will be made redundant when the mill closes in coming weeks.

“It’s only a small town, and it’s got a good vibe and everything, and it is a good vibe providing we can all keep our jobs, and have an income and go out on the weekend and enjoy what we’ve got here in Nelson,” she said.

“If you haven’t got a job, you have to hurry up and find one because the bills will keep coming in.

Sealord had been a great company “to fall back on” with its seasonal hoki processing work, she said: “Everybody in Nelson knows the hoki season.

Sealord fishing vessels and the Sealord factory at Port Nelson. (File photo)

“You can’t carry on and try and live a good life without a job if they keep closing places down.”

In Brightwater, the nearest village to the mill, several customers at the Sprig + Fern pub are losing their jobs, but it’s too early to tell the full impact on the community, co-owner Barb Frost said.

“I am sure it will have an effect once it has closed and everyone is looking for other jobs, especially with the other closures happening in the region.

The impact of the factory closures will go “well beyond their own walls”, said Ali Boswijk, Nelson Chamber of Commerce chief executive.

“I am sure people will have to leave the area to look for employment, which is very sad as we have an amazing community here.”

Down the road in Wakefield, real estate agent Lydia Heywood said “people are gutted, they’re absolutely, absolutely disappointed”, and the mill closure will have an effect on the wider area.

“It’s not just the people who work at Eves Valley, it’s all the other companies as well, all the suppliers and other companies. So it’s much bigger than the 150-odd jobs they’re talking about.”

Damage from flooding in Motueka in July.

Nelson Chamber of Commerce chief executive Ali Boswijk said the wider impact won’t be obvious until the factory closures start to play out, “but we do know that all of those companies will have local suppliers and local businesses that rely on doing business with them.

“That’s just always the case when you have a business the size of any of them shutting down, the impact goes well beyond their own walls,” Boswijk said.

“The number of jobs that we’re looking at directly through the three closures is well in excess of 300 people, so that’s substantial,” she said.

Nelson Mayor Nick Smith said the council cannot protect the local economy form the scale of impacts from the closures.

Big infrastructure projects, including a hospital rebuild with a budget over $500 million, and a city centre development project, would provide new work opportunities, Boswijk said.

“We’re really working hard to ensure that as many local businesses get a piece of that action as they can,” Boswijk said.

“Obviously they’re very specifically construction, so we’re really trying to work out how we can make the most of those investments.”

Mayor Nick Smith said the last four months have been “devastating” for the region, with the factory closures coming on top of “wicked storms” in June, July and August.

“I cannot recall in over 30 years of representation of this community such a tough period. The worry is just having so many job losses at once.”

Smith said Nelson City Council is working closely with the Ministry of Social Development on ensuring support for workers and families impacted by the closures, which includes finding job placements or reskilling workers.

“Our problem with having so many job losses at once is we can cushion the economy but not protect it completely from the scale of these impacts.

“There’s a huge challenge for manufacturers nationwide to be competitive, and what is common for a number of these businesses, is consolidating to a single large factory site,” Smith said.

Boswijk said Nelson’s relative isolation makes it a lovely place to live and holiday, but also means it’s a long way from market.

“The irony of Proper Crisps is that they were bought by Griffin’s, which also used to be a Nelson company.

“So we’re really good as an incubator to create these entrepreneurial [businesses], who then grow, and grow beyond Nelson.”