UNEASY OVER SAILING CONDITIONS : General Manager, Leiataua Samuel Phineas.
By Staff Writer
Unsafe weather disruptions during the busy holiday season could lead to more frustrations for the demanding return to school inter-island sailings flow on in a week or so.
This is the uneasy worry for the Samoa Shipping Corporation, SSC, for returning students mainly from Savaii to Upolu where they are schooled.
Rough travel conditions have already frustrated the happy mood of the holiday season after it turned sailing schedules on the route into chaos.
“The busy holiday season normally flows into the return to school period, from around mid-January to the first weeks of February, so there is no break in the hectic travel pace,” SSC General Manager, Leiataua Samuel Phineas, sighed.
Gusting winds, rough seas and drenching rainfall of the past few days severely disrupted holiday travel between the two main islands.
Scheduled sailing times were canceled as the SSC staff worked closely with the Met Office to keep close watch on where it is safe for sailing.
“There are times when rain is pouring heavily but the sea is actually quite calm while in other cases the sun is up but heavy seas make travel unsafe especially between the ‘vainu’u’, Apolima and Savai’i,” Leiataua explained.
Holiday travel at the end of the year is one of the peak periods on the sea route.
Thousands of holiday makers make the trip to spend Christmas and New Year with families.
Most travel from Upolu to Savai’i and the boost in numbers is to do with mostly New Zealand based families holidaying in Samoa.
Others arrive from Australia and other locations where the Samoan diaspora has spread.
SSC General Manager Leiataua sympathises with the travellers frustrations but appreciates the understanding shown for the difficult conditions.
“Our priority is first and foremost the safety of travellers, our crew and the expensive company assets, and so far the response has been encouraging for us.
“There are still a few mumblings but they settle down after the disappoint has passed.”
The SSC management were looking forward to a more improved service this year with the use of two larger vessels with support from smaller barges when need.
The larger Lady Samoa 3 carries up to 740 passengers and 30 plus vehicles per trip. The still virtually new Samoa Express II can load up to 160 people with 40 plus cars.
“We were scheduling 3 trips a day for each boat while using the smaller barges to handle heavy trucks loaded with commercial good for Savaii and it was going well.
“ Long lines of cars that used to spill out from the Mulifanua wharf compound onto the main road in the past were all loaded up with each sailing.”