ease Solomons problems

Ships

A Princess and a Warrior ease Solomons problems

Transport facilities between the I Solomons capital of Honiara 1 and the country’s Western Prov- I ince got a boost in February with the entry into service of the ;• 28-metre, 122-tonne vessel [ Solomon Princess.

Capable of carrying more I than 140 passengers, Solomon Princess is to ply between Honiara and Gizo, calling at Yandina and 15 other ports in the Western Province on the way.

Her cruising speed is 10 knots, and she has first class and economy cabins.

The ship was built in Japan nine years ago.

Owned by Solomon Islands Navigation Services, Solomon Princess was brought from Kobe, Japan, in a 14'/>day crossing by Captain Vitale Tangisi from the Marine Div ision. He was accompanied by four Solomon Islanders, includ ing the manager of the com pany, Roy Clement.

Mr Clement said the com pany is asking the public to write to the management telling it what kinds of food and refreshment they wish to be served on board at the ship’s kai bar.

The company is offering fare reductions of 10% if the return journey is made within 14 days of the outward journey.

Arrival of the Solomon Prin cess was the second piece of good shipping news in Solomon Islands in the space of a few months: last October saw the launching of Solomon Warrior, the first catcher boat built in the country.

The 24-metre ferro-cement pole and line catcher was built for the National Fisheries De velopment (NFD) company as part of a $12.4 million project under the Asian Development Bank. She is the first of 10 similar vessels to be built under the scheme. Three others are already in various stages of construction.

Solomon Warrior will be manned by a crew of 24, under the command of a former

Solomon Taiyo captain, Cap tain Yonamone.

The vessel is powered by a Caterpillar engine and has a cruising speed of 12 knots. She is equipped with two bait boats and can hold 20 000 kg of fish.

NFD has made arrangements to sell its fish to Solomon Taiyo.

Supervising construction, which is done by local NFD labour, are three consultants present in the country under New Zealand aid agreements.

They are Selwyn Kitney (ship construction), Chris Overy (en gineer and electrician), and lan Buagh (ferro-cement consult ant).

The original labour force on the ship-building project was seven, but has grown to 150.

‘Posh’ ships

for S.l.

The first of three 195-tonne cargo-passenger ships being built by Carpenters Industrial of Suva for companies in Solomon Islands was launched in Suva at the end of February.

Named the Ligomo 111, the 27m long ship is the most sophisticated vessel built in Fiji by Carpenters. It can carry 120 passengers and 105 tonnes of cargo. A bow ramp can be raised and lowered to allow direct loading from trucks.

There are 30 de luxe seats in an

upstairs lounge, 10 sleeping berths and 80 ’on-deck’ seats with awnings. There is also a canteen/milk bar and a bank.

Twin Gardner engines will give a service speed of nine knots.

Average price of each vessel is $5OO 000. The buyers are Isabel Shipping Company, Marau Shipping and South New Georgia Development Corporation.

One of the Ligomo’s two sister ships will be fitted with luxury reclining seats costing nearly $4OO each.

According to Michael Bow kett. Carpenters’ general man ager, more ships of the same design and hull will be built if the first three are successful.

Rough sea for

Forum Line

A suggestion by Australia that aid money for island territories should be used to bolster the falling fortunes of the Pacific Forum Line (PFL) was rejected by Forum partners at a meeting in Suva in February. It had been referred to the govern ments involved in the PFL.

Australia first tabled the suggestion at the meeting of

Commonwealth Heads of Government in New Delhi last year. At the Suva meeting, attended by transport officers from New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Niue, Solomon Islands, the Cook Islands and Fiji, it was reported that the PFL needed $4.5 million to balance the books. This could be contrib uted by the partners from aid money.

Australia is not a partner in the Forum Line, but, as re ported in the March issue of PIM, New Zealand is giving more than $7 million to the PFL, the NZ Foreign Affairs Ministry declaring that it would continue to commit expenditure to the Forum Line as it re garded the services as vital for overall Pacific regional develop ment.

At the Suva meeting, Fiji asked for time to study the situation before making a de cision on its contribution.

Otherwise it was not prepared to give any more money to the

Pfl.

Fiji’s enthusiasm for a re gional shipping line waned at the outset when it received little support from neighbours for the development of Air Pacific as the regional airline.

The Motuan Chief (below), with a cargo capacity of 350 cubic metres has recently been added to Steamships Trading Coy’s coastal fleet out of Port Moresby PNG.

Grounding in

Tokelau

The Suva-based inter-island ship Ai Sokula went aground on a reef off Fakaofo atoll in Tokelau in late February, but the crew of 17 and several passengers were unharmed.

The Ai Sokula, which was on tier way from Apia to Fakaofo with 350 tonnes of cargo, is iwned by Wong’s Shipping.

She is on a three-month charter :o the New Zealand Foreign \ffairs Department.

The cargo was later unloaded rom the ship which is believed o have escaped serious dam age.

>ne up for

Kiribati

he Kiribati fishing fleet has rown by one with the entry into of a new pole and line shing vessel, Nei \rintetetongo.

The ship was made available ) Kiribati under the Japanese id programme.

Engineer’s

►hort rest

etirement for 52-year-old atu Mosese Duilomaloma om his job as a Fiji Public /orks Department engineer at ie end of January lasted only a ;w days. Early in February he

was appointed as the first local port engineer for the Fiji Ports Authority.

One of his jobs will be to assist in planning new projects for the ports of Suva, Lautoka and Levuka under the auth ority’s new $ll million rehabili tation scheme.

Ship arrest

in Yap

Yap State Governor John A.

Mangefel cabled the govern ment of the Republic of Palau in February that the govern ment of Yap State was holding the 670-tonne cargo vessel Unrui until the Palau Ship ping Company paid off SUS 32 361.410 it owed to the state.

The action came after Bill Acker, manager of Waab Transportation Company in Yap, informed the governor that Palau Shipping owed $3l 504.980 to his company for stevedoring fees, including the off-loading of Unrui on February 12.

The Transportation Division of the state then informed Governor Mangafel that Palau Shipping also owed $856,430 to the government for dockage and entry fees. Mangefel, there fore, ordered that the ship remain in port until its agent, Palau Shipping Co, paid all the debts.