Shipping briefs
pp. 84-86 · Read in the full issue
SO far as registration of ships is con cerned, Tonga may become the Liberia of the South Pacific.
According to King Taufa’ahau, several overseas companies had said they wanted to register their ships in Tonga and crew them with Tongans.
Opening parliament in June, the King said that if the Pacific Islands Producers’ Association decided to go ahead with a regional shipping line based on the Tonga Shipping Agency, the kingdom would be ready to enter the project with bigger ships. It was already planning to buy a patrol boat to guard its sea boundaries. • Another move in the Pacific Islands Producers Association’s plan to establish a regional shipping line will be taken soon in Nukualofa.
PIPA’s secretariat in Suva has sent out a circular to the six member governments suggesting a meeting in the Tongan capital of a joint work ing party. If established, the shipping line will be based on the facilities of the Tonga Shipping Agency.
• Vila’s first slipway is ready to take its first craft. The slipway has been built by British Works on Iri riki Island at a cost of about $5,000, and will take vessels up to 36 tons.
Built of concrete, it is 80 ft long and 10 ft wide and has a cradle running on rails. • The Societe Francaise de Navi gation (Sofrana) will launch a new freezer and general cargo service be tween New Zealand and Papua New Guinea ports, via other islands, with the Capitaine Cook. After New Zealand the Capitaine Cook will call at Noumea, Honiara, Port Moresby, Lae, Rabaul and Kieta. • Conpac have reorganised their services from Sydney and Brisbane to Papua New Guinea. The Tenos will now service Lae in place of the Nimos, as she is a larger ship and better equipped to handle all Lae requirements.
The Nimos has been switched to the service terminating at Port Moresby. Her cargo-handling facilities are considered better suited to Port Moresby. • Fiji has two hydrofoils, the first ever seen in the country. They have been bought by Mr. Dick Smith for his Castaway Island resort on the island of Qalito to ferry tourists.
Built in Holland and cruising at 24 knots, the craft can cover the distance from the island to Lautoka in 55 minutes compared with 2\ hours taken by the ketch Seas pray. • The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Fiji Agriculture Department have chartered a Japanese fishing boat for a tuna fishing feasibility study in Fiji waters. A Fiji crew will be given on the-job training in pole-and-line fishing, a method used by Japanese and Hawaiian skip-jack fisheries. • pie Keia Boat Company, of Mangaia Island in the Cooks, expect delivery from New Zealand about August of a single-screw steel barge which will be used for the lighterage of pineapple cargoes at Mangaia.
The barge, 32 ft long with a 12 ft beam, is being built at Whangarei. • A seaman was injured when an explosion in the engine-room of a New Zealand ship, the Hotonui, blew out a crankcase door while the ship was on her way from Noumea to Suva on June 13.
The seaman, John Langi, was later transferred to a Norwegian ore carrier, the Falkinger, and taken to Suva.
With engines crippled, the Hotonui
sent out an SOS and her position was pinpointed for the search and rescue organisation by a Qantas Boeing 707.
Towed for 150 miles by the Fiji tug Wallacia, the Hotonui reached Suva on June 15. Owned by Luggate Game Packers Ltd., of New Zealand, she was used to process and freeze meat in the New Hebrides. • The MV Marata, that’s the name the Melan-Chine Shipping Co. has chosen for the Solomons’ first all passenger vessel. And the name was chosen by competition. Winners were Mr. Bobby Ledi of the Port Authority in Honiara and Mr. F. Soaki of the Police Department. They each receive a radio set as a prize. More than 200 letters were received suggesting names for the 50 ft vessel which will be in service in July. • A suction dredge bought by the Cooks Government from the Bay Dredging Co. of Tauranga, New Zealand, has arrived at Rarotonga. It will be used to deepen Avatiu har bour, where both the Thallo and Jean Philippe have previously grounded on a mudbank when attempting to turn fully loaded at low tide.
When deepening is completed the harbour will be able to accommodate Thallo, Jean Philippe and a small oil tanker all at the same time.