Olovaha

Early last August the Tongan ferry, Princess Ashika, sank with a presumed loss over seventy lives.  See our previous posts  – Princess Akisha.   A new ferry, the Olovaha, for the route is being built in Japan, with Japanese funding and is expected to go into service in November.  Until them New Zealand has donated a 45.5m flat-bottomed barge for use as a temporary inter-island ferry.   The barge ferry service is to start from the first week of April and operate until the arrival of the new ferry from Japan.