First boat of state shipping line arrives, greeted by a water salute

The first boat of the Maldives State Shipping (MSS) arrived in the country today.

Marking the inauguration of the shipping line, the first boat of the company MVR Iberian Express was greeted with a water salute. The boat has the capacity to transport 700 containers of 20 feet.  The boat arrived in the country today carrying medical supplies and staple food items.

The company MSS will be run as a subsidiary of the State Trading Organization (STO) which will own 99.99 percent of the company. Maldives Fuel Services will own 0.01 percent.

STO stated that the MSS was introduced to provide a trustable shipping line that businesses can trust, increase employment opportunities and reduce the dependency of the country on the tourism sector.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has previously stated that the country needed to diversify the dependency on the tourism sector and the introduction of the shipping line would pave the way for this. STO is the biggest importer of goods into the country and the introduction of the shipping line would mean that businesses in the country would have easier ways to import goods into the country.