MOANA NUI

scrapped

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Inter-island supply ship lost on reef

The "Moana Nui" ran aground on Jan 27, 2017, at Nassau in stormy seas where she was in order to take on board coconuts bound for Rarotonga. The ship had just arrived in Rarotonga coming from Norway, in October to enstrengthen the fleet owned by Taio Shipping in order to service all the outer islands, especially the northern group, which takes a bit longer to reach and traditionally always requires a lot more cargo. The company, however, will maintain full operations with the two smaller ships remaining. There was severe damage to the hull of the vessel and the rudder. The offer to tow the vessel off the reef was rejected as the ship has a hole in the hull and could not be refloated. The sister vessel, the "Lady Moana", sailed two days later with a full complement of cargo meant for Nassau - empty drums and equipment in case the fuel needed to be pumped off the "Moana Nui" on the reef. A team of three people from the insurance company, Federal Insurance, also travelled on the "Lady Moana" to conduct an investigation - trying to determine how the accident occurred and the extent of the damage. The likelihood of Taio Shipping being able to replace the ship depended on the result of the insurance investigation. The vessel was scheduled to make the 17-to-19-day run between Rarotonga, Palmerston, Nassau, PukaPuka, Manihiki, Rakahanga, Penrhyn and back to Rarotonga up to eight times a year.