The principal of Taio Shipping in the Cook Islands says he hopes the government pays heed to recommendations from an inquiry into the grounding of one of the company's vessels.
Taio Shipping owner Tapi Taio Photo: RNZI/Florence Syme Buchanan
In January Taio Shipping's brand new MV Moana Nui hit the reef off Nassau in the northern islands.
The investigators said the lack of a detailed coastal chart, inadequate radio communication, and the unfamiliarity with the reef contributed to the grounding.
It's calling for channels to be created on the south or southwest of Nassau to make it easier for islanders to reach the ferry, and for large mooring buoys to be established on each island for vessels to use during cargo-handling operations.
Tapi Taio said he hoped the government was listening.
"I hope the government is looking at this and will start pouring some infrastructure money into this development, and fix all the harbours in the north, and a place where we can anchor our ship out, you know, some bollards outside [the reef] and tie onto that instead of drifting. "