Stopped by a sand bar

WESTERN Samoa’s newest ship

ping service has struck a prob lem or, at least, a sand bar.

Polynesian Searoad Company, which

spent SUS 110,000 developing the port, finds now that its ship cannot get in and out of the harbour except at high tide.

The company planned to ply between Pago Pago and Aleipata at the western end of Western Samoa, reducing the time of transit to Apia because it was quicker for people to use the road from Aleipata than sail all the way to the Western Samoan capital.

But the sand banks near the wharf have led the company to cancelling ser vices with the vehicular ferry Navigator.

On its first voyage the ship became stuck

on a sand bank near the Aleipata wharf and had to wait for the high tide.

Work on dredging the seabed cannot go ahead until hydrographic studies are completed. This would make it possible for work to be done so that new sand deposits do not replace ones which have been dredged away.

Polynesian Searoad had proposed to run a daily service between Pago Pago in American Samoa and Aleipata, with a

once-weekly voyage between Pago Pago

and Apia for heavy cargoes. The com pany sees potential in people from the

American territory taking the daily re

turn trip to Aleipata to buy fresh pro duce and for tourists to move rental cars between the two parts of Samoa. □