Neu: 2001-10-01 Contents of this issue:
1. Airline Advice 2. Doors Re-Open 3. Profit Mode 4. Terrorism Included 5. Trust Fund Scandal 6. Tokelau Cautious 7. Champagne Flight 8. Bula Bula 9. Over Serviced? 10. State Takeover? ======================================================================== October 1st, 2001 1. Airline Advice: Forming its own national airline is not a good idea for Niue, says Forum Secretariat infrastructure economist Dr Robert Guild. Niue tried to set up its own carrier three years ago but it went belly up, costing the country $US400,000. In a new move the Premier Sani Lakatani last month asked China for a $2m soft loan for a second attempt. However China rejected the request. Dr Guild said Niue is a small country and would benefit from supporting existing airlines in the area rather than setting up a national airline which would prove expensive and difficult to operate. Asked if Niue was vulnerable to having its air services controlled by other countries, Dr Guild said that co-operation and integration with existing airlines on a code-sharing or alliance basis has proved cheaper than trying to structure dedicated services by themselves, said Dr Guild. Niue's market is too small to support a dedicated service ( from Auckland to Niue) but co-operating with airlines operating from spokes and regional hubs it is possible to have a regular service which fulfils the needs of the community. 2. Doors Re-Open: A group of local shareholders are reported to be opening the Niue Hotel this week.They are hoping to have 15 of the 31 rooms open for the island's upcoming festivities celebrating 100 years of political association with New Zealand. An interim lease to October 1 held by Auckland publican Reg Newcombe has delayed the takeover.Mr Newcombe has said he welcomes the latest plans for the 27 year old hotel, once the flagship of the island's tourist industry. Sources say the organisers of the project who hoped 100 Niueans would each buy $1000 parcel of shares fell short of their target but have decided to go ahead and open the hotel bar and 15 rooms for the celebrations. The organisers plan to form a company in New Zealand. The venture has the backing of the Niue Cabinet. Shareholders are organising a working bee to clean up the property which was abandoned after the Lord Liverpool University medical school closed down in January after becoming insolvent. 3. Profit Mode: Despite tough competition in the region, the Samoa Shipping Corporation has announced a pre-tax profit of more than $1.6 million for the fiscal year ending last December 31. The announcement was made as the corporation reported acquisition of another vessel for its fleet. The new 42-meter (138.6-foot) vessel, to be named the Samoa Express, and to cost more than $2.5 million dollars, is expected to arrive in Samoa during the second week of October. One of the main overseas routes for the Samoa Express will be the Apia-Tokelau run. Samoa Shipping also announced that another new vessel is on its way to replace its aging inter-island ferry, Tausala Samoa.(PIR) 4. Terrorism Included: While the Niue government appears to have stalled on introducing anti-money laundering legislation, the Cook Islands government says it has added "terrorism" to its money laundering act, as a preventive measure. The move is in response to concerns raised by the New Zealand Reserve Bank, which warned its local banks about transactions coming from the Cook Islands. But, the Cook Islands Money Laundering Authority has assured New Zealand that it is working with the Financial Action Task Force to extend the scope of scrutiny to cover anti-terrorism. The task force is the policing arm of the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The chairman of the Money Laundering Authority, Kevin Carr, says the authority is ready to assist in the global process to prevent terrorism from receiving funds. The New Zealand clamp down is in response to a U.S. call to freeze all assets of Osama bin Laden, considered the mastermind behind the September 11 terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center twin towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.(PIR). 5. Trust Fund Scandal: Two Tongan cabinet ministers have resigned in the continuing controversy over alleged mismanagement of an offshore trust fund reports Radio Australia's Pacific Beat. The money in the trust came from the sale of Tongan passports to Hong Kong residents in the lead up to the territory being handed back to China. and has reportedly been reduced from $US33 million to only 12 million. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice David Tupou and Education Minister Tutoatasi Fakafanua, a former Finance Minister have quit after being threatened with impeachment by MP Teisina Fuko. Police Minister Clive Edwards has been named as new deputy prime minister. Mr Fuko says this is a victory for the people, who want to know where the money went. (Radio Australia) 6. Tokelau Cautious: As pressure continues to mount on the United States and France to end their colonial administration in the Pacific, New Zealand is also facing scrutiny over its role in the tiny Polynesian archipelago of Tokelau. Earlier this year, United Nations Secretary General Koffi Annan called for colonial powers in the Pacific to grant New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Guam and American Samoa greater autonomy. But in the tiny islands of Tokelau, which have been administered by New Zealand since 1926, independence and greater autonomy are a goal which has failed to capture the interest of the islands' 1,500 people. Tokelau, a territory of just 10 square kilometres, has responded to international pressure by drafting a path towards autonomy, which it has called the "modern house project", and by taking control of its public service. The head of government on the islands is the Ulu O Tokelau, who works alongside the New Zealand territorial administrator. The current Ulu, Faipule Kuresa Nasau, says Tokelau's slow move towards autonomy is a result of seeking a type of autonomy which reflects a country with three atolls and a small population. Faipule Kuresa Nasau says Tokelau does not want the type of governance Niue and the Cook Islands have - free association with New Zealand. It has been predicted Tokelau may take up to 10 years to formally decide on the type of autonomy it wishes. 7. Champagne Flight: Two lucky passengers on the Vava'u -Tongatapu flight received a surprise return ticket to Vava'u and a bottle of champagne to mark the 50,000 and 50,001 passengers to board a Royal Tongan Airlines service since January this year. "This is an outstanding achievement for Royal Tongan Airlines and the accolades must go to the staff of Royal Tongan Airlines for achieving this target ahead of projection" said Semisi Taumoepeau, CEO Royal Tongan Airlines. Royal Tongan Airlines projected to reach its 50,000 mark by mid October this year after experiencing some schedule difficulties during the first quarter this year. Over the last three months RTA domestic services have experienced a 70 - 80% load factor every week. The strong growth in domestic traffic has been supported by the increase tourist traffic to Vava'u. RTA also flies twice weekly to Niue which has experienced high yield load factors. 8. Bula Bula: Tourism is booming in Fiji. Air Pacific is now running wide-bodied jets from Sydney to Nadi daily. An airline spokesperson says Japanese visitor numbers have increased since the terrorist attacks in the US but the largest number of tourists in Fiji are still Australians with New Zealanders a close second. The Air Pacific spokesperson says despite other airlines flying from Sydney to Nadi there are still a shortage of seats available. 9. Over Serviced?: While the new Vanuatu-based company BB Shipping plans to take the NZ Reef Shipping Company head-on for the Auckland to Niue service the French-New Caledonian company Sofrana is to resume a shipping route it abandoned over 33 years ago. The Sofrana move has raised some concern in the Pacific maritime industry, with many established shipping operators arguing most routes are already over-supplied, and that constant pricing wars will end up hurting the industry as a whole. The 300-container carrier, the Sofrana-Bligh, is nowonce again travelling regularly from Auckland to Tonga, American Samoa, Samoa and Wallis and Futuna, in a shipping route that takes 21 days to complete. French-Caledonian-registered company Sofrana, who owns the ship claims the resumption of the Samoan route is proof the industry is healthy enough to make way for some new competition. But other operators say Sofrana's move has more to do with commercial revenge than economic opportunity, with Sofrana keen to place some pressure on French Pacific shipping giant PDL. The competition might be good news for the people of the Pacific islands, who are being offered better deals. But industry experts say Sofrana may have chosen the wrong moment to pick a fight, arguing the route is already over-tonnaged and there are already too many shipping operators offering their services there. 10. State Takeover?: Air New Zealand directors and New Zealand Government negotiators have spent the weekend haggling over the value of the airline, which looks certain to be returned to state ownership. A deal to save Air New Zealand from collapse is likely to be finalised within days, after weeks of turbulent negotiations between the main shareholders and the Government. Insiders said the parties were working to announce a rescue package today. But the negotiations were complex, with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, and it might be midweek before an agreement was reached. Any deal will be subject to shareholder approval. This was likely to be sought at Air New Zealand's annual meeting in Wellington on October 30. In the meantime, the airline will be supported by its financiers. The Government was expected to pump in up to a billion dollars through the purchase of new shares or convertible notes, and by underwriting the issue of new shares to existing shareholders. __END__
