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4 small Pacific states get regular shipping services
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Posted on May 25 2009
The Kiribati Shipping Services Limited has formally signed an agreement with the governments of Nauru, Tuvalu, Kiribati and Wallis and Futuna to provide regular feeder shipping services to these countries.
The four small island states in the region have been confronted with irregular shipping services in the past three years.
In applauding the signing, KSSL general manager Itibwinnang Aiaimoa said this was a profitable venture for the company.
“We were providing services in the past but they were inconsistent and irregular and this was due to a lack of commitment because there were no formal agreements in place to coerce the provision of services as required,” Aiaimoa said.
The company, which has been in existence since 1979, has two feeder ships and will provide services once a month that will be dictated by the routes the cargoes demand and the volume of the cargo to be carried across from one island state to another.
Aiaimoa said KSSL had been contemplating providing shipping services to SIS since 2007.
“We have been providing shipping services through Fiji since then, carrying cargo to Tuvalu, Nauru and to the Kiribati. And we continued this service even though they were irregular and sometimes with very little cargo,” he said.
The agreement will also mean much needed income for KSSL.
“The company is government-owned but we do not enjoy subsidies anymore. We have to earn our existence and sustain our services,” he said. [B][I](Secretariat of the Pacific Community)[/I][/B]
