MES wins Tonga cargo-passenger ship

Japan’s Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding (MES) announced that its subsidiary shipyard ISB has received an order for a 1,500 gt cargo-passenger ship from the Ministry of Transport of the Kingdom of Tonga.

The order is in line with the project to construct ferries for isolated islands through Japanese government’s Official Development Assistance (ODA). Tonga is made up of about 170 islands and ferries are extremely important as one of its lifelines for the country.

The newbuilding will be built under the ODA program to serve as the replacement for the existing 955 gt ship of the state-run Shipping Corp. of Polynesia, which operates ferries between islands in the country. In October 2008, ISB booked an order for a 1,000 gt cargo-passenger ship for Samoa also under the ODA program via marketing support provided by MES.