News in Brief
Vula’a Rivilina Elementary begins school year on a high note
05 February 2024
Beaming smiles showed the joy and excitement on the faces of students of Vula’a Rivilina Elementary School as they sat at new desks inside their brand-new double classroom donated by John Swire & Sons Ltd (Swire) through the Swire Philanthropic Fund. John Swire & Sons Ltd is a privately held company with a long association with PNG through its shipping arm, Swire Shipping, and for the last 50 years as a major shareholder in flag-carrying local conglomerate, Steamships Trading Company Ltd.
The classroom was formally opened and handed over to the School Board and Hula Community in a ceremony conducted at the school grounds on Wednesday 31 January 2024.
In his speech, Finance Director of Steamships, Michael Scantlebury, shared that this project was a collaboration between Steamships staff and concerned members of Hula Village.
“Steamships has a long-standing relationship with the Hula Community which formed out of our staff regularly visiting this area for kite boarding. Through this recreational activity, we learned of the plight of this school. This began conversations to explore options for how we could contribute towards the school’s redevelopment. Eventually our proposal was supported by Swire, who asked Steamships to lead the delivery of the project on their behalf.”
Months of community engagement and planning were followed by building construction which started in November 2023 and completed on 31 December.
In accepting the keys to the new classroom, Kilavigi Ruga, School Board Representative of Vula’a Rivilina Elementary School thanked Steamships and Swire for recognising the need within the community.
“For many years, we’ve experienced funding challenges to carry out the repair and maintenance of our school classroom, but out of that difficulty, we’ve received this blessing. The partnership with Swire and Steamships enables us to implement the changes required since the education restructure and improve our school facilities for the benefit of our children.”
The total project value is K250,000 which covers a rural double classroom with teachers’ office space in between, 30 students’ desks, 2 teachers’ desks, chairs and shelves, blackboards and pinboards and freight, cartage and building contractor costs.
Vula’a Rivilina Elementary School is the first beneficiary of the Swire Education Infrastructure Programme (SEIP) fully funded by Swire and implemented by Steamships. The objective of the programme is to provide access to basic education for school communities in Papua New Guinea through the provision of education infrastructure.
This programme aligns to the major outcome areas of the National Education Plan 2021-2029 supporting the governments agenda to provide adequate school infrastructure to cater for the education structure change and infrastructure providing environments that are conducive to learning.
Buk Bilong Pikinini 2023 Pari Graduation
08 January 2024
A big congratulations to the the Buk bilong Pikinini class of 2023 graduates of the Pari Village Learning Library Center. It was heartwarming to see the literacy levels and confidence of children who have flourished throughout the year.
The Pari LLC since its inception in 2021 have educated and nurtured 166 children through to primary school, equipping them with the knowledge and inspiring a love for learning. This year’s cohort was the largest graduating class in Pari to date, and we hope to see many more curious and bright minds in 2024.
Steamies Sevens 2023
24 November 2023
On the 7th October, Steamships hosted the annual Steamies 7's and Touch Football competition, as our operating companies battled it out on the field for the highly regarded MD's Cup.
The Steamies 7's and Touch Competition is the final event as part of the Tri-Series tournament. The 29-year long tradition is a fixture in the Company's internal event schedule, promoting good sportsmanship, teamwork, healthy lifestyles and imperative to maintaining team moral and company culture.
Steamships operate businesses within three core divisions of Logistics, Hospitality and Properties. Group wide activities allow the opportunities for our team to support each other and network in a safe, secure, family-friendly environment. Thank you to all the teams who participated on the day, particularly those who flew in from Kimbe and Lae. All teams demonstrated a high level of athleticism, sportsmanship and enthusiasm.
Further thanks must be extended to the teams at The Right Connections, PNG Rugby, NFS and our corporate vendors and SME partners who assisted in ensuring the day was a success.
Lae Family Day 2023
24 November 2023
A day filled with good food, good company and lots of fun. We took some time to celebrate our Lae staff and their families last Saturday, at the Scrum Oval. We all had a wonderful time, participating in a plethora of games and activities throughout the day, with the famous, and highly regarded tug-of-war being the highlight of the day. Sizzling hot BBQ was served with food for all, fairy floss sticks and lots of ice-cream to go around.
Steamships Family Days are a time for management to say thank you to our team members for their tireless efforts throughout the year. It is a chance for our families to get involved, to be part of the Steamships family, meet our colleagues, as well as an opportunity for all divisions to come together as one to celebrate another fantastic year. The Executive Management team from Port Moresby also flew in to partake in the festivities, taking time to meet and mingle with the wider team.
A special thank you to Innovative Agro Industry (IAI) Ltd. (Illimo Diary) for joining us on the day, with it’s much loved mascot handing out samples of Illimo Milk and Joi Juice to our team members. We also were pleased to have our joint venture business Colgate-Palmolive join with a very special guest, Dr. Rabbit.
