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Tinian Shipping cites $33M loss
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Posted on Mar 04 2006
TINIAN—Tinian Shipping & Transportation Inc. said it incurred losses of more than $33 million over 10 years of operations.
“You may like to know that TSTI has suffered losses of more than $33 million over the past 10 years,” said TSTI chair Michael Kwan in a recent letter to Commonwealth Ports Authority executive director Lee Cabrera.
Despite this, Kwan said that “TSTI will continue to operate the ferry services.”
In return, TSTI is asking the CPA board of directors to waive its lease rentals or at least peg it at a minimal rate for 40 years. It also asked that it be allowed it to build a drydock facility for the repair and maintenance of its vessels.
Kwan noted that, since 1996, TSTI has been providing ferry services between Saipan and Tinian not only to its customers but also to the entire public.
TSTI is a sister company of Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino.
In pushing for the drydock facility, Kwan cited that it could not repair Tinian Express—one of its only two ferries plying the route between Tinian and Saipan—since it ran aground in October 2005.
TSTI has since been using only the Saipan Express twice a day between the two islands.
“The damaged ferry needs urgent repair to resume normal schedule. However, there is no drydock facility in the CNMI,” said Kwan.
He said the only alternative now is to tow the vessel to either mainland China or Hong Kong, which would be very costly.
Kwan said the proposed facility would be open to other vessels under 160 tons for repair, inspection, and maintenance.
The company proposes to initially invest $1 million to build the facility, which would be located at the tip of Tinian Pier, previously the tuna factory.
