FIJI PORTS CORPORATION LIMITED

MEDIA RELEASE

IMPROVEMENTS TO CARGO HANDLING EQUIPMENTSUVA WHARF

Fiji Ports Corporation Limited (FPCL) had taken much anticipated initiatives to address the long standing machinery problems by injecting around $65,000 for the revamping of its fleet of cargo handling equipment. The initiative includes engagement of technicians from New Zealand to assist the local mechanical staff to complete numerous specialized repair works. FPCL had in the past few months encountered difficulty in achieving high productivity rates directly relating to the drop in efficiency of its machinery fleet, which had a considerable impact on the overall performance of service delivery in terms both cargo handling and vessel operations. Fiji Ports has now mobilized extensive resources to immediately address the concerns raised by all stakeholders especially the shipping agents, forwarding agents and respective business communities on the unavailability of cargo handing machinery and shore cranes which had caused some delays during this busy business period. According to Fiji Ports, current initiative will continue in full stream till January 2012, where the entire fleet of cargo handing machinery and shore cranes will go through a comprehensive repair and maintenance program. It is envisaged that reliability and operational efficiency of all FPCL machinery will be improved with a guaranteed performance level thereby significantly improving the overall efficiency of core services provided by Fiji Ports.

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