 Te Kukupa in Avatiu harbour | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Cook Islands | |
| Name | Te Kukupa |
| Owner | Cook Islands Police Force |
| Operator | Cook Islands Police Force |
| Christened | May 1989 |
| In service | May 1989 |
| Out of service | 2022 [1] |
| Refit | 2015 |
| Identification |
|
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Pacific-class patrol boat |
| Displacement | 162 tons |
| Complement | 15 |
CIPPB Te Kukupa is a Pacific-class patrol boat, built by Australia and operated by the Cook Islands. [2] [3]
When the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Seas established that all maritime nations' exclusive economic zones extended 200 kilometres (124 mi) from their shores, Australia designed and built 22 patrol vessels that it then gave to 12 of its neighbours in the Pacific Forum, so they could exercise sovereignty over their zones, from their own resources. [4]
Australia provided just one vessel to the Cook Islands, and will be providing it with a larger and more capable replacement, from the Guardian class. [5] The replacement is scheduled to be delivered in 2022. [6]
Australia designed these vessels using commercial off-the-shelf equipment, rather than high performance military grade equipment to help ease the maintenance burden of maintaining the vessels in small, remote shipyards. Te Kukupa displaces 160 tons, and is designed to allow its crew to remain at sea for missions of up to ten days.
Te Kukupa was delivered in 1989. [7] In 1995 it escorted the vaka Te Au o Tonga to Moruroa to protest against French nuclear testing. [7]
In January 2012 Te Kukupa went to the rescue of the yacht Bonny, only to find it empty, with its lone crew-member missing. [8] It later emerged that the yacht had been stolen by a man facing child sex charges. [9] A member of the Cook Islands Police was later convicted of stealing $9,000 from the yacht. [10] [11]
The vessel underwent a major refit in Australia in 2015. [3] [12]
On November 3, 2017, Te Kukupa rescued in rough and heavy the owner of the yacht Zangano, whose engines had failed several days earlier. [2] [13]
Australia started building a class of replacements for the original Pacific Forum patrol vessels, in 2017. Te Kukupa's replacement was named CIPPB Te Kukupa II . [14] Te Kukupa left on her final voyage to Australia on 25 February 2022. [7]
The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately 236.7 square kilometres (91 sq mi). The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers 1,960,027 square kilometres (756,771 sq mi) of ocean. Avarua is its capital.
This article lists transport in the Cook Islands.
The Pacific class is a class of 22 patrol boats built by Australia and donated to twelve South Pacific countries. The vessels were constructed between 1985 and 1997 and are operated by the militaries, coast guards or police forces of the twelve island nations. These boats are supported by the Pacific Patrol Boat Program and used primarily for maritime surveillance and fisheries protection.
The Tuvalu Police Force is the national Police force of Tuvalu, it is headquartered in Funafuti and includes a Maritime Surveillance Unit, Customs, Prisons and Immigration. Police officers wear British style uniforms.
The Cook Islands Police Service (CIPS) is the police force of the Cook Islands. The current Commissioner of Police is Maara Tetava who was first appointed in 2009 and in 2011 was reappointed.
The Guardian-class patrol boats are a class of small patrol vessels designed and built in Australia and provided to small South Pacific Ocean countries as part of the Australian Government's Pacific Maritime Security Program.
RFNS Kula (201) is a Pacific Forum patrol boat operated by Fiji. She was designed and built by Australia and launched in 1994. Australia agreed to provide twenty-two patrol boats to twelve of its neighbours and fellow members of the Pacific Forum, after the recently concluded United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea extended maritime nations' exclusive economic zone to 200 kilometres (110 nmi). Australia provided two other patrol vessels to Fiji, Kikau and Kiro. Australia also provided training and infrastructure for maintaining the vessels.
VOEA Neiafu (P201) was a Pacific Forum patrol vessel operated by Tonga from 1989 until its decommissioning in 2020.
Nafanua (04) is a Pacific Forum patrol vessel operated by Western Samoa's police. Like her 21 sister ships she was built in Australia. After the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Seas extended maritime nations' exclusive economic zones (EEZs) to 200 kilometres (110 nmi) Australia agreed to give its smaller neighbours in the Pacific Forum patrol vessels of their own, so they could police their extended EEZs. Nafanua is the ship Australia gave to Samoa.
HMTSS Te Mataili (801) was a Pacific Forum-class patrol vessel provided by Australia to Tuvalu, and operated by the Tuvalu Police Force. Tuvalu has a 900,000 square kilometres (350,000 sq mi) exclusive economic zone, and Te Mataili was its sole long range patrol vessel, until it was retired, and replaced by the larger and more modern Te Mataili II.
HMTSS Te Mataili II (802) is the second Guardian-class patrol boat completed, and the first to be given to the small Pacific Ocean nation Tuvalu. She was commissioned on 5 April 2019, replacing Te Mataili, a Pacific Forum patrol vessel, that had reached the end of her designed lifetime.
VOEA Savea (P203) was a Pacific Forum patrol vessel operated by the Tongan Maritime Force from 1989 to April 2019.
RSIPV Gizo (05) is a Guardian-class patrol boat in service with the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force Maritime Department. She was the fifth boat of her class to be completed. Australian officials officially handed her over to representatives of the Solomon Islands on 8 November 2019, at the Austal shipyard in Henderson, Western Australia.
RKS Teanoai II (301) is a Guardian-class patrol boat in service with the Kiribati Maritime Police. She was given to the Republic of Kiribati by Australia as part of the Pacific Maritime Security Program, in which Australia donates patrol boats to neighbouring Pacific Island nations in order to improve regional maritime security. She was the eighth boat of her class when launched in April 2020, but became the eleventh to be delivered due to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. She was officially handed over to the Kiribati police crew at the Austal shipyard in Henderson, Western Australia on 18 June 2021, replacing the 27-year-old Pacific-class patrol boat RKS Teanoai as the small island nation's sole maritime security craft.
VOEA Pangai (P202) was a Pacific Forum patrol vessel of Tonga, operated by the Tonga Maritime Force.
Taio Shipping is a shipping company in the Cook Islands. It is the islands' main inter-island shipping company, and operates freight and passenger services between Rarotonga and the outer islands, with services once or twice a month to Atiu, Mitiaro, Mauke and Mangaia, once every two months to Penrhyn, Rakahanga and Manihiki, and once every two and a half months to Palmerston and Pukapuka.
Te Kukupa II is a Guardian-class patrol boat built in Australia for the Cook Islands. It replaced the original Te Kukupa, supplied to the Cook Islands three decades earlier. Her crew is drawn from the Cook Islands Police Service.
RVS Takuare is a Guardian-class patrol boat in service with the Vanuatu Police Maritime Wing. She was given to Vanuatu by Australia as part of the Australian government's Pacific Maritime Security Program on 30 July 2021. Her predecessor, the RVS Tukoro, was the second vessel of the first iteration of the Pacific Patrol Boat Program, and served in the same role from 1987 to 2021. The Takuare is currently the only naval or law enforcement vessel operated by the Pacific Island nation.
The Pacific Maritime Security Program is a program initiated by Australia to aid the neighbouring Pacific Island nations, such as Timor-Leste, Fiji, Palau, Kiribati and Tonga. The program includes the maintenance of port facilities, training, and the transfer of 21 Guardian-class patrol boats. The program was initiated under the 2018 Boe Declaration on Regional Security.
Nafanua III (04) is a Guardian-class patrol boat entering service with the Samoan Police Force. She was given to Samoa by Australia as part of the Pacific Maritime Security Program, in which Australia donates patrol boats to neighbouring Pacific Island nations to improve regional maritime security. She is the 2nd boat given to Samoa under the program, as she was ordered by Australia on 2 November 2022 as a replacement for her sister ship Nafanua II, which was damaged beyond repair when she ran aground on 5 August 2021. Nafanua II had only two years earlier replaced the 31-year-old Pacific-class patrol boat Nafanua as the small island nation's sole maritime security craft. Although she was ordered as the 22nd and ultimate boat of her class, she was delivered on 22 November 2023 as the 18th.
Cook Islands police patrol boat Te Kukupa is on a rescue mission after a distress alert was sent by the yacht Zangano, which was about 500km southwest of Rarotonga yesterday.
The yacht, Zangano, was reached by Te Kukupa drifting in the Niue exclusive economic zone.