Seven Pacific island countries signed the Pacific Blue Shipping Partnership charter in Majuro on 11 June 2026, establishing the PBSP as an international organisation subject to ratification, according to the Micronesian Center for Sustainable Transport.
Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Naoero, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu signed the charter. Palau and Tonga plan to sign. The PBSP is designed to coordinate a transition in domestic shipping across participating countries.
Its immediate agenda covers fit-for-purpose vessels, slipways, maritime maintenance, seafarer and shoreside worker training, and institutional support for island communities across Oceania.
The charter sets the PBSP’s purposes and functions, governance structure, decision-making process, funding mechanisms, review arrangements, dispute resolution procedures and entry-into-force conditions.
Majuro was designated as the headquarters. The council elected the Marshallese minister responsible for transport as the PBSP’s inaugural chair.
Ministers and senior officials also visited Juren Ae, the first sailing cargo ship designed and built for the Marshall Islands Shipping Corporation for inter-atoll transport. The PBSP plans to use the vessel’s delivery and deployment as a basis for scaling up investment in new ships.
The ministers supported work on an application to the Green Climate Fund for a demonstration fleet of low-carbon wind-propelled vessels, maritime maintenance facilities, capacity building for seafarers and shoreside workers, and institutional strengthening.
The PBSP follows more than a decade of work by the 6PAC+ group of Pacific states at the International Maritime Organisation on shipping emissions. Its domestic focus is on aged and poorly maintained ships operating long, thin and high-cost routes.
The Micronesian Center for Sustainable Transport is a Marshall Islands government-owned research centre focused on sustainable transport in the Pacific region and beyond.