AFTER months of limited trading activities happening at the Solomon Islands Western Provincial capital, Gizo is starting to witness more cargo boats arriving loaded with cargoes.
For a province dotted with many islands, shipping services is a very important means of transport.
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| Solomon Islands Gizo port starts busy Trading [Photo by Solomon Star] |
During the COVID-19 lockdown and travel restrictions in January the the province was hit hard with limited supply of food and fuel.
It was only in April that travel restrictions started to ease. This had allowed ships to travel into the province under strict health measures.
Over the past days a number of cargo boats have docked at Gizo to drop off cargoes, fuel, building materials, vehicles and other equipment.
And this had allowed the retailing and wholesaling industry in the province to bounce back and continue to offer services to the rural communities.
Yesterday about three cargo boats berth at Gizo to drop off cargoes, building materials and vehicles.
For many communities from the nearby islands such as Kolombangara, Ranoggah, Simbo, Vella, New Georgia and even Choiseul, Gizo acts as their main hub to do business and access services.
Each week local shops and canteen owners travel to Gizo to buy cargoes.
Currently Chinese and Bangladesh operated shops are in control of the retail and wholesale businesses.
Some of the cargo vessels after drop off building materials and cargoes continued on to Vella and Shortlands.
On their return trip most of the cargoes boats were able to do back-loading of copra, cocoa, timber and SolTuna Products.
Source : Solomon Star/ Pacific Business News