Tongan family shipping business navigates challenges

The blue-hulled boats of Tofa Ramsay Shipping are a familiar sight in Tonga’s waters, ferrying passengers and cargo to 'Eua, Ha'apai, Niuas, and Vava'u.

The company is proud of its family ownership and the company’s chief executive Tuna Likiliki is a third-generation worker, whose family history is tied up in the ocean.

“My grandparents are from Ha’apai, and not just mainland Ha’apai but from the small islands in Lulunga, so you're looking at Matuku, Tungua, Haʻafeva, that's where they both grew up.

“Apparently my grandfather had gone to propose in a boat and then they started just bringing people over and for school in Tongatapu.

“At a point in time, he was exporting watermelon to Sāmoa via our Niua group, he also brought a lot of our people to New Zealand in a wooden boat … it was just sheer hard work.”

Cargo can include containers, building supplies, vehicles, and more than 200 passengers. Photo/Facebook

Speaking to John Pulu on PMN Tonga, chief executive Tuna Likiliki said they want to expand but have met some challenges.

“We want bigger boats, but the educational opportunities available to upgrade the knowledge of our current crew is limited.

“Commonly we employ Fijian qualified welders … I would really love New Zealand to open up its doors and give opportunities for our young people to be able to develop our trades so there's less reliance on us to pay a lot of money for people to fly in and do the work because we don't have those qualifications available in Tonga.”

Her son qualified as a welder in New Zealand and is soon entering the family business, but Likiliki said efforts to enrol other Tongan workers were met with restrictions imposed by New Zealand.

“We wanted to put some people in fabrication courses, and it says not for international students.”

A spokesperson from the Manukau Institute of Technology confirmed their Level 3 pre-trade apprenticeship in welding, fabrication and steel construction is for domestic students only.

"This has not been offered to International Learners since 2018. The reason for this is, is the pre-trade is a ‘taster’ course designed for those who are intending to move into apprenticeships with local industry.

"In the past, MIT has offered Pacific-based International Learners study options in trades and engineering through scholarship programmes (Short Term Training Scholarships) with the scholarship agreement requiring recipients to return to their home countries and use their skills for the benefit of industry in their region."

Some landings are more treacherous than others. Photo/ Tofa Ramsay Shipping Fcebook

Onwards and upwards

The company has been running for 35 years, with Tuna bringing her work experience in the banking and travel sector to tackle business challenges, and her husband joining her.

While their business has evolved, Likiliki said they had to compromise on some of the faster boats for the practicalities of smaller islands.

“We've gone from small wooden boats to steel boats. We now have one with a crane and a landing barge that can take stuff straight to the sand.

“We still have a lot of people living in the small islands in Tonga, some of them are still very remote, no wharfs, so we are inspired to make their life easier.

“We use the roll on roll off [boat] because you can drive on and when you get to the small islands you step onto a boat, you don't have to climb down, so it's designed for our people.”

Unloading at Kolomaile, 'Eua. Photo/Facebook

The company currently recruits graduates from the Tonga Maritime Polytechnic Institute and takes pride in encouraging women into the sector, with some coming through the ranks to qualify as captains capable of sailing internationally with 240 passengers and 120 tons of cargo.

Just keep shipping

As well as domestic routes, the company does some international freight work, but Likiliki said being funded privately makes it difficult to compete with global or government operators.

“Should anything happen to them, it's company or government funded, they have aid from Japan or NZ Maritime, they have support.

“We've lasted this long because we really believe in what we do and we reinvest back what we get into the company and just doing what's right, even though it's hard most of the time.”

Watch the full interview on PMN Tonga: