Ship repair hub planned for Vanuatu

VANUATU maritime services company Ocean Logistics is seeking investor funds to develop a ship repair facility that could serve the South Pacific and even East Coast Australia.

The company, which delivers specialised tug, barge, and vessel support for defence partners, government agencies, shipping lines, and major infrastructure contractors across the Pacific region, is on the expansion trail.

Ocean Logistics has recently acquired the former Picton, New Zealand tug Monowai, adding to what it claims is the largest fleet in the country and includes a number of former Australian and New Zealand units.

However, Andrew Bohn, CEO, says when a vessel in Vanuatu needs to come out of the water for maintenance, there is nowhere in the country to do it properly.

Ship operators have to send their ships overseas, which means long tows, high costs, weeks of downtime, and money leaving the country that should be staying in it.

“For an island nation whose economy depends entirely on ships moving people and cargo between the islands, that is a serious gap in national infrastructure,” Mr Bohn said.

At Red Corner in Luganville, Santo, the company is building and operating a slipway facility under Ocean Marine Logistics Terminal. In this first phase it is using roller airbag technology to haul vessels, including its own fleet.

“We are now opening the facility to other domestic vessels in Vanuatu, and by the end of 2026 we intend to be slipping international vessels as well,” he said.

“That is phase one, and it is proof the concept works. But the real prize is what this facility could become.

“We have a development plan to transform the site into a full marine maintenance facility. That means dredging and reclaiming land at the front of the slipway, acquiring adjacent land to expand the footprint, building finger jetties, and installing a marine travel lift of around 500 tonnes so we can lift tugboats and multiple vessels out of the water at once.

“It means feasibility studies and the geotechnical and coastal studies to do it properly. The end result would be a facility that can service the entire domestic fleet, the growing yachting and recreational boating sector, and the fishing vessels calling into Vanuatu, which ties directly into the World Bank funded fisheries wharf development at the Vanuatu Maritime College in Santo, where the catch will be landed.”

Mr Bohn said Ocean Logistics’ plans did not stop at Vanuatu's own needs.

“There is a real regional market here. Vessel operators on the east coast of Australia are already towing tugboats as far as Papua New Guinea to be slipped, because slipping capacity in Australia is expensive and hard to book," he said.

“That is a long, costly tow for want of an available facility. A properly built slipway in Santo, with the skills and capacity to match, could capture a share of that market and bring out-of-water maintenance work, and the money that comes with it, to Vanuatu."

Mr Bohn spoke of further growth.

“Here is the honest position. Ocean Logistics can grow this facility ourselves over the next ten years, and we will, because Vanuatu needs it and we are committed to servicing our own fleet no matter what," he said.

“But with the right investment now, we bring that future forward. We give Vanuatu the ability to maintain its own ships years earlier, we build local skills and jobs sooner, and we start competing for regional work while the opportunity is open. The full build, depending on the final plan, sits between ten and twenty million US dollars.

“This is exactly the kind of opportunity that development finance was built for. It is private sector led, it is commercially viable with a genuine return, and it delivers real development impact, national resilience, local jobs, and skills that stay in the country.

“The recently signed Vanuatu-United States Investment Incentive Agreement specifically names ports and transportation infrastructure as a priority for the US International Development Finance Corporation, and a facility like ours is a natural fit for that mandate. We would very much welcome a conversation with the DFC about what that could look like.

“We are also open to engaging with other development partners who share that vision, including AIFFP, the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and the IFC. The point is simple. The need is real, the facility is already working, the plan is robust, and the return is there. What we are looking for is the right partner to help us build it faster than we could alone,” Mr Bohn said.