12 Jun 2008

American Samoa inter-island vessel still being repaired

8:20 am on 12 June 2008

Continuing repair work on the American Samoa government vessel MV Sili, means there has been no ocean transportation service to the Manu'a islands for nearly three weeks

Some residents on the islands say store shelves are empty and supplies of petrol are very low.

Without the Sili, store owners and residents of Manu'a have to depend on air services to uplift goods from the main island of Tutuila.

However, store owners in Manu'a say the air freight costs are very high compared

to those for the Sili.