Marine services provider Harbor Star Shipping Services, Inc. (HSSSI) has signed an agreement to be the exclusive provider of lighterage services to Palau Sea & Air Transport Agency (PSATA).
Under the agreement finalized May 15, HSSSI will provide the exclusive logistics requirements of Palau-based PSATA, transporting construction equipment and materials from the Philippines to Palau, Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands.
In a regulatory disclosure, HSSSI said the three-year lighterage service contract is projected to result in at least eight additional voyages per year for the company’s internationally classed tug and barge tandems.
The equipment and materials to be transported by HSSSI will be used for projects identified in the Federated States of Micronesia Infrastructure Development Plan as well as in the construction of support structures for the territory’s tourism industry. PSATA is currently the only company authorized by the Micronesia Shipping Commission to transport special cargo within Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.
Palau, part of the Micronesia region in the western Pacific Ocean, is an archipelago of over 500 islands lying southwest of the Philippines.
The first shipment under the agreement is scheduled for the end of May 2017.
Last April 22, HSSSI’s MT Procyon and Barge Lynx delivered 8,000 metric tons of aggregates to Yap Island, a part of the Federated States of Micronesia. The successful delivery paved the way for PSATA to be introduced to the lighterage service provided by the Philippine-based company.
This tandem will also be used particularly for this new project, HSSSI president and chief executive officer Geronimo Bella, Jr. confirmed to PortCalls in a text message. He noted that the materials to be transported to Palau are importations of PSATA from the Philippines.
Lighterage service, or the transport of cargo by barge, is one of HSSSI’s main service lines. In 2016, its lighterage operations had a 7.8% contribution to the company’s total revenue. – Roumina Pablo
