Transport in the Cook Islands explained

This article lists transport in the Cook Islands.

Road transport

The Cook Islands uses left-handed traffic.[1] The maximum speed limit is 50 km/h.[1] On the main island of Rarotonga, there are no traffic lights and only two roundabouts.[1] A bus operates clockwise and anti-clockwise services around the islands coastal ring-road.[2]

Road safety is poor. In 2011, the Cook Islands had the second-highest per-capita road deaths in the world.[3] In 2018, crashes neared a record high, with speeding, alcohol and careless behaviour being the main causes.[4] Motor-scooters are a common form of transport, but there was no requirement for helmets, making them a common cause of death and injuries.[5] [6] Legislation requiring helmets was passed in 2007, but scrapped in early 2008 before it came into force.[7] In 2016, a law was passed requiring visitors and riders aged 16 to 25 to wear helmets, but it was widely flouted.[8] In March 2020 the Cook Islands parliament again legislated for compulsory helmets to be worn from June 26, but implementation was delayed until July 31,[9] and then until September 30.[10]

Highways:

Rail transport

The Cook Islands has no effective rail transport. Rarotonga had a 170m tourist railway, the Rarotonga Steam Railway, but it is no longer in working condition.[12]

Water transport

The Cook Islands have a long history of sea transport. The islands were colonised from Tahiti, and in turn colonised New Zealand in ocean-going waka. In the late nineteenth century, following European contact, the islands had a significant fleet of schooners, which they used to travel between islands and to trade with Tahiti and New Zealand.[13] In 1899, locally owned shipping carried 10% of all international trade to the islands, and 66% of all trade carried by sail.[13] Indigenous-owned shipping was driven out of business following New Zealand's acquisition of the islands, replaced by government-owned vessels, New Zealand trading companies, and the steamships of the Union Steamship Company.[13]

International shipping is provided by Pacific Forum Line and Matson, Inc. (as EXCIL shipping). Only the port of Avatiu can handle containers, with ships unloading at Aitutaki using lighters.[14]

There are two inter-island shipping companies: Taio Shipping, operating two vessels, and Cook Islands Towage, operating one.

In the past, shipping interruptions have led to shortages of imported goods and fuel, and electricity blackouts on the outer islands.[15] Shipping has frequently been subsidised to ensure service.[16] In 2019 the Cook Islands government announced that it would acquire a dedicated cargo ship for the outer islands after Cook Islands Towage's barge was sold.[17] It subsequently delayed the purchase pending the development of a Cook Islands Shipping Roadmap, and issued a tender for a Pa Enua Shipping Charter.[18]

The Cook Islands operates an open ship registry[19] and has been placed on the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control Black List as a flag of convenience.[20] Ships registered in the Cook Islands have been used to smuggle oil from Iran in defiance of international sanctions.[21] In February 2021 two ships were removed from the shipping register for concealing their movements by turning their Automatic identification system off.[22] In April 2022 the motoryacht Tango owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg was seized in Spain.[23] Maritime Cook Islands claimed that no other sanctioned vessels were on its registry.[24] In July 2022 two yachts owned by sanctioned oligarch Roman Abramovich were reflagged as Cook Islands vessels, allowing them to escape arrest in Antigua and Barbuda.[25]

In 2024 Maritime Cook Islands deflagged 12 tankers for violating sanctions against Russia and Iran. It denied that it had become a haven for Russia's "dark fleet" of sanctions-evaders.[26]

Ports and harbours

The smaller islands have passages through their reefs, but these are unsuitable for large vessels.

Merchant marine

Air transport

The Cook Islands is served by one domestic airline, Air Rarotonga. A further three foreign airlines provide international service.

Airports

There is one international airport, Rarotonga International Airport. Eight airports provide local or charter services. Only Rarotonga and Aitutaki Airport are paved.

11 (2013)[11]

Airports – with paved runways:
Airports – with unpaved runways:

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Getting Around . Cook Islands Tourism Corporation . 28 July 2020.
  2. Web site: Cooks' Island Bus Passenger Transport Ltd . Cook Islands Tourism Corporation . 28 July 2020.
  3. Web site: Second most deadly roads . Cook Islands News . 1 September 2011 . 28 July 2020.
  4. Web site: 'Alarming' crash figures in Cook Islands . RNZ . 7 December 2018 . 28 July 2020.
  5. Web site: Cook Islands road toll fatalities points to 'gutless' MP's . The Coconet . 28 July 2020.
  6. Web site: Moving to the Cook Islands: Kiss the road of Rarotonga . Stuff . 13 July 2019 . 28 July 2020.
  7. Web site: Polynesia in Review: Issues and Events, 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2008: Cook Islands . Pacific Islands Report . 1 June 2009 . 5 August 2020.
  8. Web site: Young motorcyclists in Cooks still ignoring helmet law . RNZ . 23 October 2017 . 5 August 2020.
  9. Web site: Grace period to get helmets . Katrina Tanirau . Cook Islands News . 19 June 2020 . 5 August 2020.
  10. Web site: Two more months of no helmets . Rashneel Kumar . Cook Islands News . 31 July 2020 . 5 August 2020.
  11. Web site: The World Factbook 2020: Cook Islands . CIA . 28 July 2020.
  12. Web site: No Steam in the Cook Islands... . www.internationalsteam.co.uk . 29 July 2020.
  13. Web site: The lost century of independent sailing . Cook Islands News . 22 November 2014 . 28 July 2020.
  14. Web site: Ports information . Cook Islands Port Authority . 28 July 2020.
  15. Web site: ‘SURVIVOR’ GETS SUPPLIES, COOKS’ MANGAIA DOESN’T . Pacific Islands Report . 9 June 2006 . 23 July 2020.
  16. Web site: Shipping Subsidy 2019 . Ministry of Finance & Economic Management . 28 July 2020.
  17. Web site: $2.5m barge for outer islands . Cook Islands News . 7 June 2019 . 28 July 2020.
  18. Web site: Govt sails to the rescue . Cook Islands News . 16 January 2020 . 28 July 2020.
  19. Web site: REGISTRATION SERVICES . Maritime Cook Islands . 28 July 2020.
  20. Web site: White, Grey and Black List . Paris MoU on Port State Control . 28 July 2020.
  21. Web site: Cooks-flagged ships accused of defying Iran trade embargo . Cook Islands News . 14 June 2020 . 28 July 2020.
  22. Web site: Vessels to have Cooks flag removed . Emmanuel Samoglou . Cook Islands News . 23 February 2021 . 24 February 2021.
  23. Web site: US seizes superyacht owned by oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who has close ties to Putin . Stuff . 5 April 2022 . 25 July 2022.
  24. Web site: Superyacht seizure: Cook Islands scramble to ban any more Russian oligarchs from maritime registry . New Zealand Herald . 8 April 2022 . 25 July 2022.
  25. Web site: Two superyachts owned by oligarch Roman Abramovich have taken refuge in Morocco . Tumbler Ridge News . 25 July 2022 . 25 July 2022.
  26. Web site: Cook Islands deflags 12 sanctions-busting tankers as it rejects ‘dark fleet’ label for registry’s ships . Lloyd's List . Michelle Wiese Bockmann . 29 July 2024 . 5 August 2024.