Switzerland-based bulker operator Nova Marine Carriers and New Zealand’s McCallum Bros (MBL), through a joint venture, would supply a new ship designed to service the Chatham Islands needs.
The joint venture of McCallum Bros Ltd and Nova Marine Carriers SA (MBL JV) will supply a new 78 metre ship, designed to service the bespoke needs of the Chatham Islands community, Associate Transport Minister James Meager says.
The new multi-purpose ship capable of transporting containers, fuel, vehicles, and livestock is expected to enter service by mid-2027.
Nova Marine Carriers said in its release that this multipurpose shuttle service will be handled by MBL/Nova Marine JV, the 50/50 joint venture set up in recent months between Nova Marine Carriers, the Lugano-based shipping group founded by Giovanni Romeo and today controlled by the Romeo and Gozzi families and McCallum Bros Ltd, which for four generations has been engaged in coastal shipping across the South Pacific islands, as well as in towing services, beach replenishment, and sand transport for the construction sector.
The project, developed at the Lugano technical offices in collaboration with RINA, is tailored to meet the needs of the Chatham Islands communities, located about 800 km east of New Zealand.
It is estimated that the new ship will be able to transport up to 70,000 stock units per year, based on the minimum number of contracted voyages.
“For some time now,” said Vincenzo Romeo, CEO of Nova Marine Carriers, “we have been planning to enter the New Zealand shipping space. We are expecting the arrival of one of our cement carriers to begin operating in New Zealand waters by the end of this year. Certainly, the joint venture with McCallum Bros marks, even psychologically, a turning point for our group: a turning point born from the conviction that to survive and grow in a market characterized by uncertainties – such as today’s global shipping industry – it is necessary to deploy maximum flexibility and accept challenges that until just a few years ago would have been unthinkable, reaffirming ourselves as a truly global and reliable brand.”
“We believe that our presence in the South Pacific, so far from ‘home,’” he added, “also sends a signal of a company ready for new challenges, in a market for us without borders.”
