The brand-new Tokelau ferry “Mataliki” calls into Apia port on Wednesday 3 February, awaited by staff of the Tokelau Transport and Support Services (TSS) Department. The ship was designed in London and built in Bangladesh at a total cost of over NZ$12 million, funded by the New Zealand government, the company said in its press release.
Upon arrival on a beautiful calm morning, Mataliki was decked out in international signal flags for numbers and the letters of the alphabet. This ancient form of marine communication won’t ever need to be put to use seriously, it is hoped, as the ship is equipped with the most modern satellite navigation and communications technology – there’s even WiFi on board for its crew and passengers, so has been promised.
TSS Director Asofa Fereti said the new boat’s arrival was the end product of years of negotiations and team work between colleagues in NZ MFAT and TALO. Many technical people were engaged to provide input into the initial design and further modifications.
Mataliki stopped over in Singapore for a week, departing there on 12 January and making refueling stops at the ports of Dili, East Timor on 18 January and in Honiara, Solomon Islands on 27 January. The vessel’s crew comprised mostly Tongans including Chief Engineer Tolati Fifita. They had first been flown in from Tonga for the sea trials last year, and then again for the entire voyage to Apia. The crew included one Tokelauan, Lamesa Mataga. Both the Master, Steve Christieson and First Mate, Allan Dillon had been flown in from New Zealand for the journey.
The new Tokelau ferry replaces a succession of charters from the Samoa Shipping Corporation: the Fasefulu and Lady Naomi have been supplementing trips by the PV Matua which has been doing regular, approximate fortnightly trips for several years until its engine broke down in July last year. Operations of the new boat will be jointly managed by the Tokelau Transport Department and the company Transport and Marine – whose Operations Manager Dick Mogridge was on hand to also sign off on arrival of the boat in Apia.