News Release

Pitcairn Island "on line" again.

ANGWIN (Napa County) Calif., August 22, 2003—Pitcairn Island, which lost its regular supply-passenger ship service about six months ago, is again back “on line.”

Pitcairn’s administrative offices in Auckland have announced that Seatrade shipping company, which carries fruit and containers between New Zealand and Europe, has agreed to provide service to the remote island located about midway between New Zealand and Panama.

Seatrade’s ships Elsebeth, Lombok Strait and Eagle Bay will carry containers of supplies, and passengers to Pitcairn from February to September each year, according to Pitcairn Commissioner Leon Salt.

“The only drawback is that their season runs from February to September, which leaves a dry spell and no likelihood of a Christmas ship, which (Pitcairn) folk like to have,” said Salt.

He said that the number of passengers the three ships can carry is limited, with Elsebeth carrying two, Lombok Strait a half dozen, and Eagle Bay four. The ships carry fruit in their holds and containers on deck.

The Pitcairn service is only one-way – outbound from New Zealand – since the ships return to New Zealand from Europe via Papeete and New Caledonia with supplies from France.

One of the ships is due to depart for Pitcairn with supplies in September, said Salt, and another, Eagle Bay, has already serviced Pitcairn on its voyage earlier in August. It carried three passengers to the island.

Pitcairn lost its supply ship service some six months ago when the Blue Star line sent its ships to the shipbreakers, purchased a new fleet, and decided on a shipping route that does not go close to Pitcairn Island.

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Pitcairn Islands Study Center, 1 Angwin Ave., Angwin, CA, USA. Herbert Ford, 707-965-6625, 707-965-2047, Fax: 707-965-6504, Email: hford@puc.edu, Website: http://library.puc.edu/pitcairn