Cook Islands petrol station Photo: RNZI / Mary Baines
The head of the organisation that regulates fuel prices in the Cook Islands says the shortage of petrol on Rarotonga is 'inevitable' under the current supply model, and will continue to be so until changes are made.
Petrol stations have been forced to ration supplies and it's being reported that there were long queues at the one station on the island able to sell fuel at the weekend.
Louis Enoka, the chairman of Price Tribunal, said there isn't the right amount of supply arriving in the Cook Islands, and the efficiencies of the current tanktainer model need to be looked at.
"Business as usual is no longer business as usual," Enoka told Cook Islands News.
"It's a loading issue, simple as that. There just isn't the right amount of supply arriving into the Cook Islands."
Enoka said the Tribunal had been aware of the situation for several weeks and he had been discussing with stakeholders ways in which to address it.
The Cook Islands News reports Toa Petroleum owner Brett Porter saying the shipment due last weekend - and ready for consumers a few days after - would contain enough petrol for two weeks' supply.
But because there has been a shortage, and everyone will be filling up, he predicted it would last about five days.
Triad Petroleum, one of two fuel suppliers on the islands, manager and owner Chris Vaile told Cook Islands Television News the latest ship due to arrive has been delayed due to weather and has been diverted to Niue.
"The weather has been quite bad and due to safety the captain has the last call, and if that vessel is coming into a little hole in the side of the reef, then it has to stop.
"If you're at the helm of that ship you will, at times, be a very very worried man and be under great strress. I wouldn't want to be the captain bringing that ship in. It's just too big. One day we're going to have a mishap."
Cook Islands Television News was told by the police and fire services that their vehicles run on diesel and supply of that fuel is not affected just now. However, the Ministry of Health has had to act quickly to ensure that it has enough petrol for the vehicles that run on that type of fuel. Most of its ambulances and support vehicles run on diesel, however.