Transcript
FLORENCE SYME BUCHANAN: It's quite devastating for the local company, Taio Shipping,
to lose this vessel. It just arrived in the Cook Islands from Norway, in October, and it's a larger ship than the current sister vessel it has in the fleet owned by Taio Shipping. It was designed to service all the outer islands, especially the northern group, which takes a bit longer to reach and traditionally always requires a lot more cargo. It had a 350-tonne capacity with a crane, roll on and roll capabilities, so it was ideal for inter-island shipping so this has been a real blow for the company - one of the directors of the company, Josiah Taio, is saying that they're back to square one with their two smaller ships and they'll maintain full operations with those small ships.
DON WISEMAN: It ran aground on a reef at Nassau in the far north. What exactly did it do? How bad is the damage?
FSB: From what I understand there is quite severe damage to the hull of the vessel and the rudder. There was the offer made...to tow the vessel off the reef but that offer was not taken up because, as I understand, it has a hole in the hull and can't be refloated.
DW: What happens to the cargo that it was carrying?
FSB: Well, the sister vessel, the Lady Moana, sailed there two days later with a full complement of cargo meant for Nassau - empty drums and equipment in case the fuel needed to be pumped off the Moana Nui that's on the reef.
DW: I understand there's going to be an inquiry and that, in fact, is underway. Who's conducting the inquiry?
FSB: A team of three people have travelled on the Lady Moana. They're from the insurance company, Federal Insurance, and they will be conducting an investigation - trying to determine how the event occurred and the extent of the damage. I am also told that when the stranding occurred it was particularly rough weather.
DW: What's the likelihood of Taio Shipping being able to replace this ship?
FSB: That's anyone's guess because that would depend so much on the result of the insurance investigation but this particular ship sailed all the way from Norway to Rarotonga, it arrived here in October, and it's been described by the company as their 'dream ship' - it was really quite a beautiful ship to look at... and it complemented so well with other smaller vessels, which are owned by Taio Shipping.