The Solomon Islands government is poised to restrict the type of boats which can be used for transporting passengers.
The Solomon Islands Maritime and Safety Administration said to this end it would get tough this year on the types of ships that will be brought into the country.
A spokesman for the agency Derek Saru said shipping companies had converted old fishing vessels into cargo and passenger vessels, but many of them were not seaworthy.
Last year, a shipping company bought a 50-year old boat in Tonga but it failed to make it to Solomon Islands after it ran aground in Fiji.
Sea transport remains the major means people use to travel and send cargoes from the capital Honiara to the outer islands.
Photo: RNZI/ Koroi Hawkins (A ship being loaded with goods bound for the provinces at the Point Cruz Wharf in Honiara).