Pacific Magazine > Magazine > January 1, 2002
Business Briefs
Business Briefs
By Norman Douglas and Fili Sagapolutele
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| Polynesian Airlines customers will have to pay higher ticket prices because of a hike in its insurance premiums. |
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Cook Islands
In what is apparently a widespread problem, many workers in the Cook Islands are receiving less than the minimum wage of NZ$4 (US$1.70) per hour, according to Helen Maunga, a senior inspector with the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Labor and Consumer Service. She said that many employers, although aware of the law, were “deliberately flouting it.” As many as 45 complaints in a single day had been recorded by the labor service from disgruntled workers, some of whom had received a mere NZ$3 per hour for their efforts. In addition, she said, workers had been intimidated into leaving their jobs after their employers learned that complaints had been made. Existing labor regulations set an hourly rate of NZ$4 across the board for all employees, said Maunga, adding that with a staff of only three, the Labor and Consumer Service was barely keeping up with minimum wage complaints originating from the private sector and hardly had time to deal with other industrial problems.
Solomon Islands
Solomon Airlines, the Melanesian island nation’s flag carrier, was grounded again recently when the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority suspended it from flying into Australia. Services affected included those to Solomon Islands, Fiji, and Vanuatu. Solomon Airlines uses its own pilots and cabin crew to fly a leased Boeing 737 between Honiara, Brisbane, Port Vila and Nadi. The authority reported that safety problems with the airline included inadequate staff training, and that the airline had been carrying out flights without its approval. The airline was suspended until the end of October, when its certificate to operate into Australia expired. At press time it was still grounded.- ADVERTISEMENT -
Samoa
Polynesian Airlines has imposed an “aviation insurance” surcharge to airline tickets for its entire network as a result of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The new surcharge was implemented in early October after major worldwide insurance companies canceled airlines’ war insurance following the terrorist attacks. Polynesian Airlines, which was already struggling with a 54 percent increase in fuel costs, was forced to increase its war risk rates by 500 percent. Chief Executive Officer Richard Gates said in October that the insurers have demanded that passengers pay a surcharge to help cover massive insurance losses. “If we don’t have insurance we are not allowed to fly,” he said. Passengers are now required to pay $3.50 per flight segment on Polynesian. Coupled with the Pago Pago International Airport passenger facility charge of $4.50 per departing passenger, the prices of Polynesian Air tickets have increased considerably between Pago Pago and Apia.
American Samoa
Territorial-based Samoa Air was acquired in November by South Seas Group, Inc. (SSGI), the company that owns and operates duty-free shops at airports in American Samoa and neighboring Samoa. Samoa Air was established in 1986 as a commuter carrier serving the islands of American Samoa. A year later the company was given approval to operate international flights to Samoa and later to Vavau, Tonga and the island nation of Niue, though Niue flights were halted three years ago because of low passenger traffic. Samoa Air’s new chief operating officer, Andre Lavigne, said he believes Samoa Air provides a good opportunity for growth. The new owners also appointed Jason Pritchard, who has worked for Samoa Air since 1998, as the director of sales and marketing. Samoa Air has a fleet of three twin-otter aircraft and another one due soon, and a staff of more than 20.
Food manufacturer Hellaby Samoa Ltd. is exploring the possibility of setting up a meat processing plant in American Samoa. Hellaby Samoa general manager Martin Jahnke said in a letter to the territorial government that “we have recognized the growing demand from American Samoa for our products, and after numerous requests, have decided to explore the possibility of setting up a processing establishment in your country.” He said the proposed plant will initially process salt beef and sausages under US Department of Agriculture (USDA) standards with the long-term goal of supplying other popular meats currently imported. Hellaby Samoa Ltd. is a wholly Samoan owned company. The proposal, however, is running into some competition from American Samoa-based Taumafai Samoa, which says that Hellaby Samoa will duplicate a meat production plant that it is already planning.
Australia
A former New Zealand banking executive, Denise Aldous, is the new general manager of the International Finance Corporation"s South Pacific Project Facility (SPPF) office in Sydney.
Opened in 1990 to assist small businesses in the Pacific, the SPPF is financed by Australia, Japan and New Zealand as well as the Asian Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation, which is part of the World Bank.
Aldous joined the SPPF eight years ago as an investment officer. She says her objective will be to transfer the facility"s business development skills to a network of agents in the region itself.
Aldous was with the Bank of New Zealand for 24 years before she joined the SPPF in 1993. She succeeds Graeme Rothwel, who has gone to a senior International Finance Corporation position in Europe.
European Union
The European Union has allocated about 30 million Euro (US$26.5 million) for Pacific Islands agriculture, fisheries, health, and land and resource management projects. European Union representative in Fiji, Frans Baan, says programmes include:
€ 10.5 million Euro for a regional oceanic and coastal fisheries programme called "proc-Fish" to be implemented over the next five years by the Pacific Community from its Nouméa, New Caledonia, headquarters. It will cover a large-scale fish stock assessment project and work in coastal areas in collaboration with local communities and national administrations. € 4.3 million Euro for an existing plant protection project focussed on quarantine and pest reduction for Pacific fruit and vegetable producers and exporters.
€ 7.5 million Euro to equip the Fiji School of Medicine with accommodation for another 350 students and dining room space for another 200. € 650,000 Euro for the South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme Information Resource Centre building and Pacific Environment Information Network in Apia, Samoa.
€ 750,000 Euro for a three-year programme of technical assistance to the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in Suva for developing regional trade. and supporting the Forum Islands Free Trade Area incepted from January this year. It will address issues such as tariff rationalisation, taxation, exchange rate management, investment regulation, regulation of financial institutions, consumer and production regulation and government procurements.
French Polynesia
France"s finance minister and former prime minister, Laurent Fabius, has stated that due to its autonomy status, French Polynesia will not adopt the new European currency, the Euro. He was replying to a question in parliament from a French Polynesia territorial representative, Emile Vernaudon, who asked for an assurance that the French Pacific Franc (CFP), used as the currency in all three French Pacific territories, would not be devalued when the Euro was introduced in metropolitan France and Europe in January.
New Caledonia
A 34-metre fishing vessel, the Opera, has arrived in New Caledonia from Brittany, France, for an initial one year test of the feasibility of establishing a sustainable large scale fishing industry in the territory, with the primary aim of supplying mainly European markets. The Opera"s arrival signals the beginning of European efforts to break into the western Pacific fishing grounds dominated by Asian fishing nations and the United States purse seine fleet. Licences obtained from Kiribati by Spanish fishing vessels in October 2000 were mainly for the purpose of trans-shipping at Christmas Island fish caught in the eastern Pacific.
Papua New Guinea
Air Niugini is discussing the operation from April of a twice-weekly
service between Port Moresby and Nadi, Fiji, via Honiara and Port Vila in a
code-share arrangement with Solomon Airlines, Air Vanuatu and Air Pacific,
using a 70-seater Fokker 28 jet.
Photo: Fili Singapolutele
