A Hawke's Bay logging company in voluntary liquidation has had its machinery damaged in dramatic circumstances
A large logging machine has been toppled over a cliff in an apparent act of vandalism against a Hawke’s Bay logging company that went bust.
Video footage of the incident has been circulated on social media and is being investigated by police.
A hapū group has condemned the incident, andsays it is concerned oil or diesel from the skidder will damage the Waiau River.
Hawke’s Bay company JDS Logging went into liquidation on June 11 owing about $900,000 to creditors, including $46,000 to employees, according to the first liquidator’s report.
The company has assets and money owed to it which could help pay creditors, but it is unclear at this stage how much money will be recovered to pay company debts, including to its employees.
On the same day as the voluntary liquidation, a video was taken of one of the company’s skidders being tipped over a cliff next to the Waiau River in northern Hawke’s Bay near Cricklewood Rd.
The video, shared online by an anonymous person, shows a Cat skidder tumbling down the bank and includes the caption “pay ya bills or pay the price, receivers will have a hard time repossessing that one”.
A Hawke’s Bay Regional Council spokeswoman said the machine remained on a “steep, hard-to-reach location”.
She said the council’s pollution response team visited the site on Wednesday, and planned to return once river levels dropped “for a closer assessment”.
JDS Logging owner Daniel Shoaf confirmed the video involved one of his company’s machines.
“To see that video was really tough and really awful.”
He said as police were involved, he did not want to comment further on the incident.
Shoaf said it had been a tough decision to put his company into voluntary liquidation, which was the result of “multiple years of hardship and hard times”.
He said factors such as Covid, Cyclone Gabrielle, and “market crashes” impacting the price of logs had all contributed.
He said when the price of logs was low, it had flow-on effects across the sector and “the harvesting contractors are the first to go”.
He said he still had to pay bills and overheads even when expensive equipment was parked up and the company was waiting for work, which happened on multiple occasions in recent years.
JDS Logging's equipment is pushed into the Waiau River amid an apparent liquidation dispute.
He said they had exhausted cash reserves and had little option but to enter liquidation.
“I have invested virtually all of my personal funds and assets into keeping the company alive,” he said.
“Ultimately, I came to a point where I had to make a call, it was a very tough decision.
“I have guys who have worked for me for quite a while now, and had to make the call that if we carried on any longer we would be trading insolvent.
“Legally, we can’t do that, and we would have been in a position where we would have been not making commitments and falling further and further behind.”
Shoaf said he had eight employees (including himself) when the company went into liquidation and about seven machines, and the company had been running since 2019.
With regard to his employees, he said he was “very hopeful” they would get the money owed to them as preferential creditors in the liquidation.
A sister company, JDS Firewood, also owned by Shoaf, will continue operating and is not in liquidation.
Toro Waaka, chairman of Ngati Pahauwera Development Trust, a hapū group which covers the Waiau River area, said a meeting had been held at Waihua Marae where residents raised concerns about the skidder incident.
“We are concerned about the impact diesel and oil will have on the ecosystem in that part of and downstream of the Waiau River.”
The Waiau River in Northern Hawke's Bay. Photo / HBRC
Police were notified of the incident on June 11.
“The skidder has been severely damaged,” a police spokesman said.
“Police are aware of a video on social media in relation to this incident, and investigations are ongoing.”
Police did not say if any charges had been laid, but asked anyone with information to contact 105 and quote file number 250618/9070.
The first liquidator’s report into JDS Logging included a comment that said “certain fixed assets had been maliciously damaged”, and the liquidators were “progressing claims with the company’s insurance brokers”.
As for known creditors, the company owes IRD the most money, totalling over $600,000.
The company has fixed assets of about $1.4 million, however, the vast majority of those assets (such as machinery and vehicles) are subject to security interests - meaning they have related loans attached to them with third parties.
“The secured creditors have taken steps to uplift fixed assets, subject to their security, and no surplus is expected to arise for the benefit of the liquidation based upon available information,” the report read.
“The liquidators have instructed auctioneers to realise unencumbered fixed assets.”
Second-hand Cat skidder machines in working condition are listed on TradeMe for a variety of prices, from around $40,000 to over $100,000.
Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay-based reporter who covers a range of news topics including business, councils, breaking news and cyclone recovery. He formerly worked at News Corp Australia.
