BY IRWIN ANGIKI
Shipping to Bellona in Rennell and Bellona Province used to be done regularly with a couple trips per year, bringing much needed food, building materials and other essential items to the country’s southern Polynesian outlier.
Nowadays, especially this year, shipping has run dry, leaving people on the island to suffer the effects and impacts.
Canteen shelves are empty, covered in dust and cobwebs. Medical services slow down almost to a halt, and schools still wait for materials.
Plans to renovate or build new homes or other buildings hit a snag as the waiting turns from days to months.
Rose Ma’ea, 80, who runs a little canteen along with her husband say their canteen is empty awaiting the next ship which is unknown when it will ever come.
“Our last item was sold two months ago, and since then we are just living like this listening out for any information about any ship coming over to Rennell and Bellona which we can arrange to have our cargoes transported through. It is going December and there is still no ship,” she said.
The few vehicles which run on Bellona, providing public transport and service are also feeling the brunt.
“Few months ago a ship which is not part of the regular government sponsored schedule came and we were lucky some fuels were sent in it, allowing our vehicles to run,” Dugan, 38, a driver of one of the vehicles said.
Kevin, 35, who is planning to build a house said he is still waiting for any ship to carry his building materials, and he has been waiting nearly half the year.
With no ship in sight, people are forced to depend on aeroplanes to transport food and other items from Honiara to Bellona. What can be transported onboard a plane is limited to non-flammable goods and small items. Corrugated roofing iron, water tanks, timbers, etc, are totally off the list.
For the elderly, who depend on the convenient gas stoves, when the gas runs out, it means returning to searching for and gathering firewood.
Furthermore, airline freights is very expensive, reported to be $20 per kilogramme if a passenger hits excess or is just sending something home.
“This year, a lot of people have resorted to sending over bags of rice, 20kg per bag, on the plane from Honiara, and us sending local food to families in Honiara, and this has really cost our people dearly,” single mother Tiare Saotia, 50, said.
The constituency had a ship.
The Rennell and Bellona province is one of Solomon Islands’ un-economical sea routes, which ship owners do not consider servicing.
Government is filling in the gap under its shipping franchise scheme, funding ships to service the uneconomical routes.
Rennell and Bellona used to have a ship, gifted to its people by the national government and beginning service in 2016.
However, since the ship was registered to an entity associated with politics, when the former Member of Parliament, who was in sitting when government gave this gift, lost his parliamentary seat in the 2024 elections, he left taking the ship with him.
The new MP even before taking office was faced with one of his biggest challenges – shipping service for his constituents.
MP John Tuhaika Jnr, speaking to Island Sun yesterday said it is a well-known dilemma that his office is facing regarding the ship.
He said the people of Rennell and Bellona know the heart of the problem of shipping service for the constituency, with the former MP receiving the franchise to service the two islands.
He could not comment further, adding that he is focused on other areas to help the people of Rennell and Bellona, but monitoring the matter.
The Premier of Rennell and Bellona province Derek Pongi has taken to social media on several occasions voicing his struggle to push for regular shipping to the two islands.
He admits that despite having connections with the former MP, he has been struggling to have the ship MV Avaikimaine service Rennell and Bellona.
The former MP could not be reached for comments.
*Reporting for this story was supported by Pacific Media Assistance Scheme (PACMAS)
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