Bougainville

Shipping

We’ll sail for Bougainville

CONSORT Coastal Shipping has an nounced it is willing to restore shipping links with Bougainville which has been cut off sinsce May when the Port Moresby government imposed a naval blockade on the island. The company’s general manager Papua New Guinea, Peter Kvam, said: “It is not true that shipping companies like ourselves have refused to resume shipping services to Bougainville. Consort Shipping is keen to go into Bougainville.”

The restoration of shipping links to Bougainville was part of the agreement reached at the August peace talks be tween the Government and representa tives of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army which has declared the island independent. Shipping companies were recently criticised by the Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Department and chair man of the committee overseeing the preparations to restore services to Bougainville, Paul Bengo. He said ship ping companies were reluctant to service the island.

Kvam said shipping services to

Bougainville could be restored without difficulty. But he pointed out that the Government must first declare the end of the blockade and officially open shipping links again. The order of a blockade “was indefinite and until it is withdrawn by the government we cannot do anything”, he said. “We are willing to pick up services again when the Government gets its act together. Another thing the Government has to do now is coordinate what we can take into Bougainville, say freight of up to 200 tonnes of foodstuff supplies to make the runs worthwhile.” □