Ferry Business - Summer/Spring 2020

1 3 6 COMMENTARY Making South Pacific ferries safer Michael Grey outlines the challenges facing coastal and inter- island ferry operators in the South Pacific and suggests how they can better protect the locals who use them MICHAEL GREY Michael Grey is a master mariner turned maritime journalist and has edited both Fairplay and Lloyd’s List over his 60-year career. I f a society depends almost entirely upon the sea and sea transport, it is not unreasonable that in the 21st century, these ships should be safe to use. The fact that this is not the case in numerous South Pacific Island communities, remains a matter of some concern. The coastal and inter-island ferry services in many of these South Pacific countries present a major dilemma for the governments responsible for running them. Their limited resources are generally insufficient for them to provide the safe and efficient shipping required by their citizens, who themselves cannot afford anything better. In the South Pacific, smaller private ferry operators have often purchased cheap landing craft from Southeast Asia, where the waters are relatively benign. However, in their new operating areas where the constant trade winds cause more challenging wave heights, small angles of deck edge immersion make them capsize easily. The situation is not helped by developed nations offloading their time-expired ships on these island operators, sometimes even gifting them as part of an aid package. These ferries are often grossly unsuitable for voyages in the open ocean, having been designed for sheltered waters by their original operators. And, because of their age, these old ships are difficult to maintain – spare parts may be unobtainable – and they quickly become unseaworthy or inoperable. Chairman of the Australian-based ship design consultancy Sea Transport Solutions Stuart Ballantyne, who has studied Pacific transport problems for many years, suggests that governments of the closer industrialised states have treated the island nations “with a measure of indifference, bordering on