Three CFTO tuna boats pass under the flag of Oman

The information was communicated to the crews on December 2, following an extraordinary CFTO Works Social Committee. “The ships Glénan, Trévignon and Drennec would be sold to an Omani company”.

These three tuna boats are part of the fleet of the main tropical tuna fishing fleet in France. A company headquartered in Concarneau, belonging to the Dutch group Parlevliet & Van der Plas, and which has thirteen fishing vessels, including four in the South Atlantic and nine in the Indian Ocean. It is this last fishing zone which is affected by the current restructuring.

The CFTO retains management of the boats

If the message sent to the crews was then in the conditional, one of the managers of the Omani company welcomed in recent days, on social networks, the arrival of “our three new tuna boats, under the flag of Oman”, photos of the Breton ships in support.

For its part, the CFTO specified that following this sale, it “would remain manager of its three ships with the same crews on board”, and the maintenance of the seafarers' employment contracts. The Concarnois shipping company further specifies that “the vessels would remain technically managed by CFTO and the fruit of the fishing would be marketed by the commercial service in Concarneau”.

The contract would concern two other tuna boats owned by the Omani shipping company, of which the Concarne company could take over management. According to our information, these are the Acila and the Adamas, two brand new tuna purse seiners. This contract would allow these vessels to benefit from the know-how and experience of the CFTO in terms of operational management.

“Freed from the constraint of the quota”

This agreement comes at a time when the Sultanate of Oman has great ambitions in the tuna market, with the state company Simak having just inaugurated a cannery in Duqm, on the shores of the Arabian Sea.

As the CFTO points out, this sale “would allow access to the resource free of the current strong quota constraint for other vessels flying the French flag”. But the agreement also worries. “In the long term, will all jobs be preserved? », asks the CFDT union.

Note that the CFTO is also studying a change of flag for two other of its vessels. Discussions are said to be underway with Madagascar, where the shipping company has just signed a partnership with the Malagasy State and the Indian Ocean Fishing and Cold Company.

Negotiations still ongoing