{"id":237564,"date":"2016-09-30T06:00:18","date_gmt":"2016-09-29T20:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=237564"},"modified":"2016-09-30T06:00:18","modified_gmt":"2016-09-29T20:00:18","slug":"pacific-highlights-shipping-lifeline-world-maritime-day-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/pacific-highlights-shipping-lifeline-world-maritime-day-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Pacific highlights shipping as lifeline on World Maritime Day 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

SUVA, Fiji<\/strong>\u2014On World Maritime Day yesterday, the Pacific Community is joining with Pacific Island countries and territories to highlight the unique place of shipping in the region with the message: \u201cShipping is the lifeline of Pacific Island countries and territories.\u201d<\/p>\n

United by ocean like no other region on Earth, communities in the Pacific Islands depend on shipping to supply essential goods and commodities, such as food, fuel, building materials and vehicles, and to provide access to international markets for exports.<\/p>\n

More than 90 percent of trade in the Pacific Islands region is carried by ships, and the region\u2019s world renowned seafaring heritage has built up over hundreds of years.<\/p>\n

The 2016 global theme, \u201cShipping: indispensable to the world,\u201d was chosen by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to focus on the critical link between shipping and society, and to raise awareness of the relevance of the IMO\u2019s role as the global regulatory body for international shipping. <\/p>\n

SPC\u2019s Economic Development Division is joining in the celebrations by hosting a half-day forum in Suva, Fiji, with representatives of numerous Pacific Island countries to value the essential role of shipping in the Pacific and discuss cross-cutting issues such as health, women in maritime, ocean governance and maritime training and education.<\/p>\n

Remarks from around the Pacific region for World Maritime Day 2016:<\/p>\n

Pacific Community<\/strong>
\n\u201cWorld Maritime Day has particular resonance in the Pacific Islands region, given the reliance of our communities on dependable, affordable and efficient shipping services,\u201d SPC\u2019s Deputy Director of Transport, Thierry Nervale, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPacific Island countries also share many of their well-qualified seafarers sailing all over the world on ships trading internationally, and therefore, this day gives an opportunity to value their engagement and remember that they are also indispensable to the world,\u201d Nervale added.<\/p>\n

Fiji<\/strong>
\nMaritime Safety Authority of Fiji\u2019s Chief Executive Officer, John Tunidau, said that this year\u2019s theme is important for Fiji as the shipping industry continues to grow in size and number and ships have transformed through the years into a viable, more sustainable and economical means of transportation with 95 percent of cargo being transported by sea.<\/p>\n

Kiribati<\/strong>
\n\u201cWe need ships not just to exchange goods but to transport people as well thus, we require that such journeys be conducted in a safe manner on well maintained and manned ships; steering standards in the right direction has been our contribution to domestic and international shipping and we\u2019ll continue doing it in the future,\u201d Captain Superintendent of Kiribati Marine Training Centre, Boro Lucic, said.<\/p>\n

Since 1967, Kiribati Marine Training Centre has trained more than 5,000 seafarers engaged in international trade and will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. <\/p>\n

Papua New Guinea<\/strong>
\nNational Maritime Safety Authority\u2019s General Manager and Chief Executive Officer, Paul Unas said that Papua New Guinea also marks the day to recognise the efforts made by the maritime sector and the industry in being an enabler for world trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cPapua New Guinea has adopted numerous IMO conventions, the three main being: International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea, International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships and International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Samoa<\/strong>
\nHead of School for Maritime Training Samoa, Fatu Lafoai said that the Samoa Transport Sector Plan is aligned with the theme of this year\u2019s World Maritime Day and the Samoa government development strategies embrace the development of the transport sector, which includes the development of the School of Maritime Training and Marine Environmental Research.<\/p>\n

Solomon Islands<\/strong>
\nThe Solomon Islands Maritime Safety Administration (SIMSA) Acting Director of Marine, Captain Tim Harris said that shipping is indispensable at the national level, yet, in the Solomon Islands there is a tendency to take shipping services and our safety at sea for granted.<\/p>\n

The status of seafarers is being raised and the comprehension of the importance of the work of SIMSA is becoming more widely recognized.<\/p>\n

Captain Harris further stated that Solomon Islands has the fifth largest sea area in the Pacific and 23rd largest in the world; with the help of the Government, SPC, SPREP and IMO, SIMSA will continue to strive to raise the consciousness of all citizens to recognise that shipping is indispensable to the world.<\/p>\n

Vanuatu
\nVanuatu Maritime College Principal, Richard Coleman, said that the people of the Pacific Islands know more than any other regional group about the importance of the sea for providing trade routes between islands and nations, as well as for populating and cultivating the far flung areas of the Pacific.<\/p>\n

\u201cPacific Islanders were the first explorers and navigators of the seas, and we wholeheartedly share the view that shipping is indispensable to the world,\u201d Mr Coleman added. (PR)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SUVA, Fiji\u2014On World Maritime Day yesterday, the Pacific Community is joining with Pacific Island countries…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[164,389,166,3151],"class_list":["post-237564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-fiji","tag-pacific-islands","tag-spc","tag-suva"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237564\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}