2020: Shipping in a decade of change
Peter Nuttall Micronesia Centre for Sustainable Transport This article was written a year before appearing on this blogsite. As we begin a new decade, the Sun is asking what 2020 heralds for Fiji’s shipping future? Shipping, especially our domestic sector, is facing major challenges. We are a maritime nation. Our fleet of commercial vessels - from outboard-driven village fibers, barges, landing craft, tourist vessels, to large passenger/cargo ferries - is the very lifeline connecting our more than 300 islands. Like other Pacific Islands states, we have long shipping routes, sometimes hundreds of nautical miles, to service relatively small communities. It has always been a relatively high-risk business and margins, especially for our remote and most vulnerable communities, are thin. High fuel prices, an often-aged fleet and a large scattered infrastructural footprint, have always presented major challenges to both government and private sector operators alike. There are major systemic u...
