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Shipping commission eyed for central Pacific
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Posted on May 14 2009
A committee will be set up to prepare a draft framework for the establishment of the Central Pacific Shipping Commission to accommodate regulatory concerns and needs of Pacific small island states in the shipping sector.
The third SIS meeting of Ministers for Maritime Transport discussed the need to set-up a shipping commission for the central Pacific region similar to the Micronesian Shipping Commission (MSC) that regulates the shipping sector in the north Pacific.
The Central Pacific Shipping Commission will be a sub-regional organization that will serve the shipping needs and interests of Nauru, the Republic of Marshall Islands, Kiribati, and Tuvalu. This will be in the field of commercial shipping and surface transportation of commercial cargo to and from the ports of the four signatory nations.
The ministers committed to the supply of data and information to SPC and the Pacific Forum Islands Secretariat to ensure the continuation of studies on hub ports and commodity mapping.
In a communiqué that was delivered in Tonga yesterday, the SIS ministers for maritime transport in the Pacific acknowledged the report on the purpose-built donor supplied ship and instructed SPC to review and refine the report to include existing services.
The communiqué also requested that SPC and PIFS investigate new feeder shipping services between Samoa, Tokelau, Cook Islands, Niue and American Samoa. This is similar to the feeder service report “Small Island States feeder shipping service – from Fiji Wallis and Futuna, Tuvalu, Kiribati and Nauru,” that was completed in 2007.
The ministers called for another meeting before the end of this year to further discuss issues outlined in their communiqué. [B][I](SPC)[/I][/B]
