Tramp vessels are what they’re called. And often, perhaps more this year, they have made port calls for reasons primarily evolved around increased economic activity.

Fiji Ship Owners Agency Association has confirmed while there has been no new shipping liners signing up with any of our shipping agents, tramp vessels are becoming more common.

Association chairperson, Craig Strong said: “Apart from those shipping companies that our members represent, our members also handle ‘tramp vessels’ or one-off callers into Fiji.

“Fiji is an import driven economy, and our economy is enjoying extremely healthy growth.”
This is reflected, he said, in the volumes of cargo coming through our main port of entry, Port of Suva while others were reflected of services in various sectors.

Mr Strong’s responses follow queries over our Waterfront Traffic’s citation of a new ship making port calls at least once every two months.

These vessels include the Corcovado, the Peace Ark hospital ship of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), car carrier, Parana, the oil tanker, Narondy Bridge to name a few.

Mr Strong’s as well as other analysis prove that imports are increasing whether it be monthly, quarterly or on an annual basis.
To put into perspective, our import statistics in our Bureau of Statistics’ provisional data put the value of goods in August at $435.3 million while the value of total exports was $218.8 million.