rabaul shipping

rabaul shipping (starships) have refused to sell tickets or allow boarding in lae this friday (route lae-kimbe-rabaul-kieta).
they said it was now absolutely forbidden for all foreigners to travel on their ships, that there was no way to get around this, and even produced an official paper to that effect.
did i miss anything lately?

upd. i did
Edited by: ktotam

VERY bad news!

Is it specifically because it is the Easter holiday, and they know the ships will be crowded?
Expats are far more likely to report safety abuses, after all.

no, i don't think so, see the link above.
looks like a general policy of star ships now.

lutheran shipping does not seem to have any problem with the foreigners (yet?), and they also sail to rabaul, although less frequently (which means one might be stuck for weeks in the port, e.g. the next departure for rabaul is on may 2).

And to make it even more mysterious, Star's ships are actually far nicer and more acceptable to tourists than Lutheran's.

Maybe an idiotic tourist tried to sue them for something once, and now all others pay for it?
Just a guess...