Pacific Shipping

Number of Gilbertese at sea may soar to 2,000

Employment problems in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands will be greatly eased if plans to increase facilities at Tarawa’s merchant sea man training scheme reach fruition. A German consortium plans to bring the number of GEIC sailors employed on its lines from 200 to 2,000 —more than three times the number of islanders that are at present employed at the Ocean Island phosphate works, due to run out in the 1970’5.

The GEIC Government and the consortium of eight German ship ping companies have almost finalised agreement on the employment of an additional 1,800 Gilbertese seamen trained at Tarawa, on some 120 ships on routes round the world, in the next six years.

In September a non-profit com pany was formed by Columbus Line in Germany to encourage other shipping companies to employ islanders trained at Tarawa {PIM, Oct., p. 107).

Another ship?

The scheme at Tarawa consists of shore facilities at Betio to accom modate a limited number of Gilbertese and Ellice Islanders and a large motor vessel, Teraka, which stands off Betio in Tarawa’s lagoon.

By November the eight German companies had joined the non-profit company and talks were on discuss ing ways of expanding the training setup. Plans are to initially expand shore facilities, before considering adding another ship.

Also, more German supervisors may be sent to Tarawa and a man ager sent from the non-profit making company, stationed permanently on Betio (perhaps Columbus’ Captain Hans Roubal).

Plans for the expansion of the training project closely follow the visit in late October to Tarawa of three German shipping men. Captain Roubal, and Messrs. K. Langhans,

Columbus, and K. Knoch, North German Lloyd.

These three negotiated terms of employment for Gilbertese. The GEIC Government asked for in centives for good work and proposed an examination scheme for crews after they had returned after their first two years at sea.

If the islanders passed the exams, and the government estimated that 80 per cent, of islanders taking them would pass, then these islanders could gain higher wages as better-qualified seamen.

PIM understands some agreement on this exam basis will be mutually acceptable following talks with the principals of the three men in Hamburg,

"Grazielle" May Be

Replaced

Polynesia Line’s ageing Grazielle Zeta may be replaced on her seven week passenger-cargo run from North America to Papeete and Pago Pago, next year.

Polynesia hopes to introduce a bigger and more modern vessel and extend the same service to Lae and Rabaul, New Guinea, to pick up coffee and cocoa for direct sailings to the US.

NG coffee has currently to be trans-shipped through South-East Asia, making cargo costs very high.

Polynesia Line, as associate com pany of Marine Chartering, which has a big hand in Micronesian Inter ocean Line, is looking for NG agents for the venture; W. R. Carpenter is one bet.

Merchant training seamen on parade from the Teraka school in Tarawa.

Fiji Builds Its

Biggest Ship

Mr. Charles Stinson, Fiji’s ebullient Minister for Communications, Works and Tourism, in October repeated his hope that the colony could be come the Islands shipbuilding centre.

In fact, most shipping observers agree, Fiji is already just this. The only other shipbuilding centres of any magnitude—at Santo, New Hebrides, Rabaul and Port Moresby, New Guinea, and Auki, Malaita, in the Solomons —have nowhere near the capacity, or output, of Fiji’s manu facturers.

Mr. Stinson was speaking at a ceremony to lay the keel of a new tourist vessel being built by the Gov ernment Marine Department shipyard at Walu Bay for Mr. Claude Millar.

It will be the biggest ship ever built in Fiji and the first commercial vessel built by the government. Mr.

Stinson said it would be the fore runner of a still larger vessel which government would be building as a replacement for the Tui Lau (sunk in October last year).

He said the new ship would be built to the highest standards that could be expected anywhere in the world: “Several experts have spoken very highly of the craftsmanship which is going into our shipbuilding and we are pleased and [«oud we have such talented people who can build ships of this size”, he added.

“I hope this will be the start of a tie-up between commerce and gov ernment in shipbuilding. It is not government policy in undertaking shipbuilding to undermine com mercial interests.”

The ship will cost about SF 156,000, due for completion in October, 1970, and will be 121 ft long with a beam of 23 ft and a draught of 6 ft. Its twin Rolls Royce diesel engines will give it a speed of 10 knots, and it is designed to carry 36 passengers in 18 first-class cabins, each having a toilet and shower, and a crew of 14.

The previous largest vessel built in Fiji was the Duiyabaki, which is 110 ft long. • Funafuti, main atoll of the Ellice Islands, had its biggest mari time day for years in early November —three ships arrived and departed on the same day! A Nationalist Chinese vessel Cheng Chih un expectedly called and took on 400 gallons of water, and two Gilbert and Ellice Colony ships, Moanaraoi and Nivanga, called on regular schedules.

Work Goes Ahead On

Avatiu Harbour

A 400 ft causeway and a concrete retaining wall are being built on the western side of Rarotonga’s Avatiu harbour, to be used as a wharf by local boatmen and visiting yachtsmen.

They will also be able to use a nearby small boats basin after it has been deepened.

Work on two concrete loading and discharging areas has been started on the southern and eastern sides of Avatiu harbour; these concrete strips will ensure that cargo is kept clean

during wet weather. The rest of the wharf area remains unsealed.

Eastern side of the harbour will be deepened to 16 ft to allow vessels of up to 230 ft in length to berth there.

A site is being reclaimed near the fishing boat shed and upon this will be built an outer islands cargo shed.

The concreting of a large area on the southern side of Mangaia Island’s wharf is almost complete to provide cargo storage space, solving previous problems of congestion and gravel contamination of pineapples packed in cartons.

Burns Philp Employs More

Islanders As Crew

Burns Philp has replaced the Singapore-recruits of the Tulagi with a Solomon Islands crew. The crew of another BP ship, the Montoro, also recruited in Singapore, is about to be replaced by a crew of New Guineans.

Each of the island territories, about five years ago, established nautical schools, and now there are competent seamen available; Burns Philp con siders it should use them in these two ships, which trade to P-NG and the

Bsip.

About 30 crew are required for each ship. The highest ranks avail able to them are bosun and leading hand (in the engine room). How ever, if they have the ability, and no doubt some of them do, there will be further opportunities for pro motion for them.

His Invention Will

Help Aquariums

What’s an omniological filter?

Strictly-speaking, it might be translated as being an “all-reasonable apparatus for expediting filtration”.

In simple terms, it’s an invention which Suva cruise operator and marine fish exporter, Harold Storck, hopes will revolutionise the keeping of marine fish.

After six years of experimentation, he has perfected a device which obviates the necessity for changing the water in small closed-system marine aquariums and enables col lectors to keep a much larger quantity of fish per gallon of water.

He has applied for overseas patents on his invention, which he believes to be the only one of its kind in use. “It’s the miniaturisation of a rather clumsy filter prototype I developed some years ago,” he told

Pim.

“I’ve produced two 24 in. by 8 in. models, both able to service 50 gallon tanks. One is suspended in the area between water level and the top of the tank—the other model actually floats on the surface. Both are most inconspicuous.”

Using artificial lighting instead of sunlight to produce photosynthesis, the omniological filter employs a system of breaking down all bacteria and finally eliminating all the pro ducts of organic decay in a well stocked aquarium.

“With the proper operation of my device, it’s possible to recondition even badly polluted water into first class aquarium water, able to sun port a far greater number of fish than under natural conditions,” Mr.

Storck said. “It makes the keeping

of marine fish much, much easier than it has been in the past.”

Mr. Storck, who says he’s had no scientific training but “plenty of ex perience in mucking about”, is manager of the Suva Harbour Lights Aquarium, where marine fish are stocked for visitor-viewing and for export to America, Japan and other markets.

“Fm hoping to expand the export business in the near future. WeTe also planning to build a bigger public aquarium in Suva and a new one at Nadi,” he said.