Goundar Shipping Welcomes the New Lomaviti Princess IX
Goundar Shipping Limited (GSL) welcomed another new vessel to its fleet with the commissioning of Lomaiviti Princess IX yesterday.
The ship will be
servicing the Natovi-Nabouwalau route.
GSL Managing Director George Goundar said the ship which cost the company $2 million can accommodate 500 passengers.
Additional costs
While there was much excitement as the GSL team received the vessel at Port Mua-i-Walu 2 wharf, Mr Goundar expressed his disappointment with the long processing time taken by the Maritime Safety Authority of Fiji (MSAF) to give the documentation approvals.
He said the ship was docked in Japan awaiting final approvals for a week resulted to additional costs.
“I had to pay US$6,000 (FJ$12, 800) per day just for the ship to be docked at a wharf in Japan,” Mr Goundar said.
“The company’s other vessels that came from Japan this year were met with similar delays resulting in a consolidated cost of USD $300,000 (FJ$ 642, 000).
“One of my ships was docked at Japan for two weeks and another for almost a month which also cost more than US$300,000.”
Due to this, Mr Goundar added any new vessels coming now would come under a different country flag.
“There will be a foreign flag coming down from now on.”
$14 million investment
Mr Goundar also revealed he is keen on investing about $14 million on four high speed ferries to service the Nausori-Suva corridor. “The speed is about 35 knots so within 20 minutes, passengers will be at Suva wharf,” he said.
“The fare will be $3.” He said he will be meeting with Government and Fiji Roads Authority Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Moore soon to further discuss the matter.
“We are assisting in taking the traffic off the road, so Government should make proper jetties in Nausori, and a parking lot so people can park their vehicles there and take the ferry to Suva,” he said. “I need to sit down with FRA CEO and the Ministry and see if we can make a car a park in Nausori, at Syria Park maybe.
“So, it depends on how fast they react to that, it will be their call.”