2025 has been a very inspiring year for NZCHET.
Many years ago NZCHET started working in Vanutau we meet a young cargo captain, Thompson who at the age of just 16 was already Captain of the small cargo vessel Kianga. His home is the island of Uluveu and he assisted us by delivering supplies for many successful projects. One of NZCHET first projects was to coordinated and facilitated a sailing school on the island of Uluveu and Thompson was the most skilled sailor, he comes from a long line of sailors and boat builders his grandfather Enrel Massing was a master sailor and boat builder so the sea is in his DNA.

In 2010 Thompson Captained one of the seven traditional waka that sailed the Pacific visiting all islands. Our boat Ranui was hired to be a mother ship and 5 men from the island of Uluveu also joined the voyage. Every island in the Pacific including Tahiti was visited by the waka and many thousands of nautical miles were sailed. After the initial journey was completed Thompson was asked to stay on and he sailed to meet Nainoa Thompson master navigator in Hawaii and further to visit the Indigenous Native American sailors.

For 24 years now Thompson has been Captaining cargo vessels throughout Vanuatu, medical boats as well as cargo and passenger, he is the most trusted and successful Captain with many credits to his name. This year NZCHET found the perfect boat for Thompson to start his own cargo business in Vanuatu. The boat, Lady Dorothy built in 1933 is a triple skinned Kauri motor boat that has worked in the Southern Ocean for many years. She is a strong and stable vessel with a huge cargo capacity and the right size to get into the numerous reefs of the 83 island archipelago.

On the 26th of May a team of 4 plus a Vanuatu Government surveyor arrived at Port Chalmers and one month later the Lady Dorothy with her name changed to the Lady Nancy headed out from Tamaki Makaurau for Vanuatu and her new life as a Vanuatu Cargo vessel. The company Hasen Island Shipping is owned and operated by Thompson Alick Massing and his brother-in-law Edson Jerethy. This cargo boat is a Vanuatu owned and operated enterprise and this fact makes us proud and satisfied. Satisfied because far too many outsiders come to Vanuatu and make very good money operating cargo businesses off the backs of local seamen who have the knowledge and expertise, they pay them substandard wages and treat them with disrespect and racism. Let this be a new beginning and a new business model for the whole of Vanuatu.