GIFF JOHNSON
For the past two weeks, a lot of the debate at Nitijela has centered on hardships on the outer islands because of shipping woes.
Transportation Minister Hilton Kendall acknowledged that of the four operational RMI Shipping Corporation vessels, two needed dry docking and one needed decommissioning — meaning it was ready for retirement. This leaves only one.
Then Saturday, the Shipping corporation’s workhorse vessel Tarmelu (formerly the Kwai) was blown off a mooring in the lagoon near Uliga Dock and run aground by the westerly waves and wind that slammed the capital last weekend. There were reportedly no crew on board the Tarmelu last Saturday when the storm hit.
After it was pulled off the reef and dragged a few hundred hards from Uliga Dock, it sank.
Shipping Corporation General Manager Danny Wase told the Journal that hull damage sustained from smashing into the reef caused the vessel to sink.
He said that fortunately copra was loaded onto another ship. But at Nitijela this week, members raised concern about copra on the vessel and also asked if it was ensured.
Sometime after it sank Saturday, a couple of life rafts popped up from the Tarmelu, which is in about 100 feet of water. They likely popped free themselves.
Earlier this week, authorities placed a boom around the location of the sunken vessel to contain any fuel releases that rise to the surface. Monitoring this week by RMI EPA officials of the location where Tarmelu sank showed an oil sheen on the water, the EPA reported.
Since the SV Kwai was purchased by RMI in 2021, and later renamed SV Tarmelu, it was a regular service provider for the outer islands, delivering passengers and picking up copra. The vessel used sails when conditions allowed, and an engine when there were no winds.
It was originally built in 1950 in Germany and retrofitted with sails in 2005.
“The success of the Kwai led to building of the Juren Ae,” said Waan Aelon in Majel Director Alson Kelen.
At the time of its purchase, Wase said to SV Kwai: “I am happy, particularly as she is expected to play an important role in the promotion of our strive for a safer environment through the use of low carbon transport sailing vessels that help or support gas emission.”
Meanwhile, at Nitijela earlier this week, President Hilda Heine commented on the floor that she and Foreign Minister Kalani Kaneko had both spoken to Japan government officials about funding two new vessels for the RMI. Japan provided two vessels in the mid-2010s, the MV Majuro and the MV Kwajalein. Despite the climate advocacy of the RMI and calls for fossil fuel phase out, both of these vessels were diesel powered.
The President in her comments at Nitijela did not go into detail about the types of ships requested from Japan.
Upon learning the Tarmelu sank, a former crew of the Kwai, Leslie Cook, posted comments to social media: “An end to an era. Unfortunately, the sailing vessel Kwai has gone to Davy Jones’ locker. To be clear all crew are safe. No one was on board when she decided to take a jaunt on her own during a storm. Although I have a heavy heart for a ship that always gave me a place to come home to, I am filled with gratitude for everything she gave us. From being found on an island in Amsterdam to sailing across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal, and over to Hawaii, she was a workhorse. She served Kiribati and the Northern Cooks for over 20 years, she painstakingly hauled over a hundred tons of plastic out of the Pacific Gyre. I would not be the woman I am today without being part of the Kwai crew.”