Taio Shipping
IndustryTransport
Founded1991
Area served
Cook Islands
Key people
Teremoana Tapi Taio
ProductsSea transport

Taio Shipping is a shipping company in the Cook Islands. It is the islands' main inter-island shipping company, and operates freight and passenger services between Rarotonga and the outer islands, with services once or twice a month to Atiu, Mitiaro, Mauke and Mangaia, once every two months to Penrhyn, Rakahanga and Manihiki, and once every two and a half months to Palmerston and Pukapuka.[1]

History

The MV Maungaroa wrecked on the reef at Rarotonga

The company was established in 1991 when Teremoana Tapi Taio purchased a damaged boat, the Acadia, in Rarotonga and obtained a shipping licence.[2]

In September 2005 the Manu Nui ran out of fuel and drifted while travelling from Pukapuka to Rarotonga, after failing to refuel.[3][4]

In June 2006 Taio Shipping diverted the MV Maungaroa from its usual schedule for a charter for the producers of Survivor: Cook Islands, causing a fuel and electricity crisis on the island of Mangaia.[5]

In January 2008 the MV Maungaroa ran aground in Avatiu during a storm.[6]

In October 2010 the MV Te Kou Maru II was stranded on the reef at Mauke.[6] The wreck was left to rust for several years.[7]

In January 2017 the newly purchased MV Moana Nui was wrecked on a reef in Nassau.[8] An investigation attributed the wreck to lack of a detailed chart, inadequate radio communication, and lack of familiarity with the reef.[9] The wreck was still in place a year later.[10] A contract to salvage and remove the wreck was issued in November 2019.[11]

In September 2019 all of the company's ships were detained by the Cook Islands Ministry of Transport after a child was lost overboard from the MV Lady Moana while travelling from Rakahanga to Rarotonga.[12] A subsequent safety assessment by Maritime New Zealand found significant failings on the company's ships, and as a result the MV Grinna II was approved to carry only 12 passengers while the passenger licences for the MV Maungaroa II and MV Lady Moana were withdrawn.[13] While the ships were detained, the northern islands ran out of imported food and petrol.[14] In 2020 the MV Maungaroa II was taken out of service pending sale, and a larger vessel, the MV Maungaroa III, was purchased to replace it.[15]

On 21 March 2022 the Grinna II ran aground on the reef at Manihiki.[16] The vessel was deemed unsalvageable.[17]

Fleet

Current

Name Built In service Gross tonnage Passengers Notes
MV Lady Moana19972013 -163 GT0Lost a child overboard at sea in 2019.[18] Passenger licence withdrawn 2019.[13]

Past

Name Built In service Gross tonnage Passengers Notes
Grinna II19802018 - 2022283 GT12Wrecked at Manihiki March 2022
Maungaroa II1978- 2019153 GT0Passenger licence withdrawn 2019.[13]
MV Moana Nui1967[19]2016 - 2017272 GT50Wrecked at Nassau January 2017[8]
MV Te Kou Maru II1977- 2010153 GTWrecked at Mauke 2010
MV Maungaroa19671996 - 2008220 GTWrecked at Rarotonga 2008
Manu Nui19602000 -465 GT
Acadia1991 - ?

References

  1. ↑ "Cook Islands Shipping Movements". 25 February 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  2. ↑ Katrina Tanirau (30 May 2020). "'Everything I've done has been for our people'". Cook Islands News. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  3. ↑ "Cooks ferry on the way back to Rarotonga after drifting without fuel". RNZ. 6 September 2005. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  4. ↑ "Cooks boat left island without required six tonnes of fuel". RNZ. 8 September 2005. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  5. ↑ "'SURVIVOR' GETS SUPPLIES, COOKS' MANGAIA DOESN'T". Pacific Islands Report. 9 June 2006. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  6. 1 2 "CARGO SHIP AGROUND OFF COOKS' MAUKE ISLE". Pacific Islands Report. 11 October 2010. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  7. ↑ "Tapi Taio answers Mauke concerns". Cook Islands News. 9 January 2012. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  8. 1 2 "Grounding disrupts shipping in Cooks outer islands". RNZ. 1 February 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  9. ↑ "Hopes Cooks govt takes heed of ship grounding report". RNZ. 10 April 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  10. ↑ "Stranded vessel a problem for Northern Cook Islands". RNZ. 27 January 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  11. ↑ Melina Etches (19 November 2019). "$750k salvage job on remote Nassau". Cook Islands News. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  12. ↑ "Rarotonga overboard case: Kiwi boy Lapana Tupou feared dead, investigators detain ship". New Zealand Herald. 6 October 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  13. 1 2 3 Melina Etches (9 January 2020). "Ships' safety issues reported too late for little Lapana". Cook Islands News. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  14. ↑ "North islands run out of petrol". Cook Islands News. 2 November 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  15. ↑ Katrina Tanirau (27 May 2020). "New era of island shipping". Cook Islands News. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  16. ↑ Caleb Fotheringham (23 March 2022). "Shipping vessel runs aground on Manihiki coral reef". Cook Islands News. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  17. ↑ "New plans to be made for Grinna". Cook Islands News. 26 March 2022. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  18. ↑ "South Auckland boy lost at sea after falling overboard on family trip to Rarotonga". New Zealand Herald. 29 September 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  19. ↑ "New ship for northern Cooks arrives in August". RNZ. 11 May 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
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