Failures litter past of ship firm's Kiwi leader

The New Zealand businessman in the middle of the Princess Ashika inquiry moved to Tonga after a succession of business failures.

As chief executive of the shipping company that owned the Princess Ashika, Napier-born John Jonesse has been accused of ignoring the shortcomings of the vessel as an open-water ferry.

A royal commission of inquiry into the sinking has revealed that Mr Jonesse was the only person to inspect the ship before it was bought by the Tongan Government. He admitted that his strengths were in management, and that he had no marine or shipping expertise.

A former associate in Christchurch said Mr Jonesse had excellent marketing ability, but was surprised at the responsibility he had assumed when he was employed to head the Shipping Corporation of Polynesia in May 2007. Mr Jonesse began his career in managing and marketing in the late 1970s in Christchurch.

Over the next 20 years he worked for Norsewear Industries, American Express, Mid-Canterbury Industries and Canterbury Leather International. In the 1990s Mr Jonesse launched several entrepreneurial ventures, with little success. With a group of businessmen he opened a Japanese restaurant in Christchurch with an eye to beginning an international chain. The $500,000 project flopped.

In 2000, he formed the Rural Solutions trust with veterinarian Hugh Jellie to manage Canterbury dairy farms for investors. The trust failed to get off the ground. He later managed grain company Rural South, which also went under.