A direct shipping service is due to start up between Samoa and the northern Cook Islands within two months.
For almost a year residents in far flung northern Cook Islands communities have struggled to ration fuel and basic food supplies in between freight deliveries.
The Cook Islands prime minister, Henry Puna, has announced that a new venture between his government and the Samoan Shipping Corporation was developed at the recent Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Auckland.
He says it means the Cook Islands' shipping woes are over, with the first Samoan freighter due in the northern islands in November.
