YWAM Medical Ships Australia announced today that the MV Pacific Link, the Townsville-based training and medical ship that has served Papua New Guinea since 2010 is being gifted to YWAM Ships Kona to provide further services in the Pacific.
Ken Mulligan, Director of YWAM Medical Ships Australia, said he was incredibly humbled by these events and very thankful that the Pacific Link could be gifted at such an important time of need. “We’ve been considering what to do with the m/v PACIFIC LINK since the acquisition of our new vessel m/v YWAM PNG late last year.
The m/v PACIFIC LINK was gifted to us in 2010 by Marine Reach in New Zealand after serving for seven years in Fiji. She has been an incredibly strong ship and a catalyst for us to get a larger vessel with more capacity for our work in Papua New Guinea.
YWAM Ships Kona has been operating yachts throughout the remote outer islands of Micronesia but lost their vessel s/y HAWAII ALOHA in a storm earlier this year, which grounded five other ships in the area. Crewmember, Aaron Bremner was tragically lost at sea during the winter storm of January 3rd, 2015.
Brett Curtis, Director of YWAM Ships Kona said that he was overwhelmed by the gift of the m/v PACIFIC LINK “We are so grateful to once again have the resources to continue our work in this region. For us this is a very timely miracle. She will be a perfect platform to use as we seek to answer real needs in the Pacific. There are just over 1100 islands in the Pacific but only 300 of them have airstrips. Some of the more remote islands we serve only receive 3-4 visits a year from ships so the need for medical and educational initiatives is vast. We are grateful that our mission’s work can continue without losing momentum.”
Both Mr. Mulligan and Mr. Curtis said that the gifting of the ship would be a strengthening for the work of YWAM Ships throughout the Pacific. “We’re positioned on opposite ends of the liquid continent,” Mr. Curtis said, “This is about Australia and Hawaii coming together strategically to assist and help with needs throughout the region.
Interested in knowing more? Contact us. We’d love to chat!
[ess_grid alias=”bottom-blog-grid-news”]