A new passenger and cargo ship is to link the Solomons' capital with Malaita province.
The government has bought the MV Small Mala, which it's hoped will give communities in Small Malaita, easier access to markets in Honiara.
The retired Archbishop of the Church of Melanesia, Norman Palmer, commissioned the ship this morning in Honiara, in front of several hundred people.
The vessel was bought from the Church with US$54,000 from the Solomon Islands' Rural Constituency Development Fund, and US$41,000 from the Taiwanese government.
