Fishing boats, yachts and the inter-island domestic vessels can now complete their underwater surveys in Tonga after a $700,000 upgraded slipway at Queen Salote Wharf was reopened yesterday, 7 September.

The reopening event was attended by Prime Minister Hon Pohiva Tu’i’onetoa and other guests, who watched a demonstration of a pilot boat 'Unga, being slipped onto the upgraded facility.

The slipway caters for vessels weighing up to 300 tonnes such as the MV 'Onemato, MV Vaomapa as well as the Ports Authority’s Tug Boats Hifofua and Olovaha.

These vessels no longer need to travel to Fiji for their annual underwater survey.

Ports Authority Tonga Acting CEO, 'Alo Maileseni said this is a major savings for the local vessel owners including Ports Authority.

“It has been over a year since the last vessel was slipped on the slipway,” he said.

The upgrade project included complete replacement of rails and cradles and repair of the slipway foundation plate. Apart from the winch, which was retained from the previous slipway, the facility is a completely new infrastructure. 

The project was completed by Fletcher Royco Joint Venture and supervised by Calibre Project Managers Ltd.

The old slipway steel structures and cradles were affected by corrosion during its previous 20 years of operation. And major repair works to some of the cradles in the past could not prolong the life of the facility.

The slipway was downgraded to 200 tonnes and continued to operate until it could no longer function, said 'Alo.

Future plans

The Ports Authority are planning to operate the upgraded slipway for the next 10-15 years. They also plan to look for a new area to relocate the slipway, and increase its size and capacity to be able to slip larger vessels in Tonga such as the MV ‘Otuamotuanga’ofa and MV Taka -‘I- Pomana.

“This will assist the domestic shipping agents greatly as they can reduce their expenses from having to travel to Fiji for their annual dry-docking services,” said ‘Alo.