Shipping Subsidy Project contract signed for TAFEA Outer Islands

September 28, 2024 10:48 pm | Posted in Business News | Share now TwitterFacebook

By Tensly Sumbe.

Minister Marc Ati, responsible for the Ministry of Infrastructure and Public Utilities (MIPU), has signed a contract with Touaraken Shipping Services following the Central Tender Board’s (CTB) awarding of the Shipping Subsidy Project for Route SSS2A-Tafea East in TAFEA Province.

The one-year contract will see the MV Havutu, operated by Touaraken Shipping Services, servicing the route. The agreement stipulates that the ship will complete one trip each month at a total cost of VT973,222, amounting to a total of 12 trips in a year.

The SSS2A-Tafea East Route will connect several locations, including Port Narvin, Ipota on Erromango, Aniwa, Port Resolution on Tanna, Mission Bay, Herald Bay on Futuna, and Anelcauhat and Port Patrick on Aneityum. Touaraken Shipping Services plans to commence operations on Route SSS2A-Tafea East starting October 16, 2024.

The shipping support services represent a temporary market intervention by the government to increase the frequency and consistency of ship calls to locations that do not receive the minimum necessary services to support economically productive activities.

This initiative, launched in 2008 through collaboration between the New Zealand Aid (NZAID) Programme, the Vanuatu Government, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), aimed to improve shipping services.