The Vaiusu Wharf, what it means for Samoa

There has been a lot of discussion lately about the Vaiusu wharf and to be honest, initially I did not understand how you could rationalize such a port in Samoa. It was actually through a discussion with my brother who being an engineer and being in those circles discussed this project with others in the engineering arena

What is the current problem? Large container ships or the "super cargo carriers" that come from the US heading to China currently will head down to New Zealand and Australian ports to offload cargo, pick up cargo from these ports bound for China and the same happens coming the other way.

The problem with this route is that it takes a lot of sailing time adding weeks to the journey as they have to sail so far down south. However there are no other ports in the Southern Pacific that are capable of offloading from these huge ships.

The solution? Building a super port in a central location makes sense where ships from New Zealand and Australia can bring their cargo for China and offload for the super cargo carriers to pick up on their way from the US or China and onload cargo for their ports. This creates a significant time and therefore cost saving for ships sailing in all directions. In addition ports in Australia and New Zealand are very expensive stops for shipping making Samoa a great option. Samoa is perfectly placed to be this port in the middle of the Pacific being essentially central to all ports to be served.

How does this benefit Samoa? The benefits to Samoa are significant. The shear number of vessels sailing into and out of Samoa will mean that Samoa will have shipping rates comparable to the rest of the world removing the problem of expensive shipping rates for Samoan cargo. Not only that, shipping frequency will be the best in the Pacific with very short timelines into shipping ports in our sector such as Asia, New Zealand, Australia and the US. The implications for Agricultural trade, manufacturing industry, services etc are mind boggling. It eliminates the geographic isolation as a trading barrier for Samoan industry and agriculture.

On top of this the port fees that Samoa Ports Authority will be able to collect will be astronomical in comparison to what we are receiving today.

What are the concerns? For me it is the environmental impact. Vaiusu is well known as the source of significant sealife on the northern part of our capital island. The mangrove is the largest in my limited knowledge, providing a breeding ground for millions of fish and other sealife. Any such endeavor would need to ensure that we do minimal harm to this area. If we cannot address the environmental side we should not build the port.

Financial concerns? The port will need 100's of millions from what I understand to construct. However as mentioned previously, the economic potential of the port, even on face value are highly favorable. I also know the Samoan Prime Minister with his impressive academic background is no slouch when it comes to crunching the numbers.

Those are my thoughts anyway. The most important thing I want to leave this blog with however is this. At the end of the day you cannot eat money. Environment must come first.