The study benchmarked regional port productivity and tariffs and found the Solomon Islands Port Authority (SIPA) underperformed the port services of neighboring countries, with a port call in Solomon Islands costing double, on average, that of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and Tonga. The study reports that SIPA’s high tariffs and low productivity have resulted in the price of imports and exports increasing and caused shipping lines to reduce their traffic through the port.
The study outlines a range of measure that could be undertaken immediately to improve SIPA’s performance and lower its charges.