Taio Shipping is a shipping company in the Cook Islands. It is the islands' main inter-island shipping company, and operates freight and passenger services between Rarotonga and the outer islands, with services once or twice a month to Atiu, Mitiaro, Mauke and Mangaia, once every two months to Penrhyn, Rakahanga and Manihiki, and once every two and a half months to Palmerston and Pukapuka.^[1]

The company was established in 1991 when Teremoana Tapi Taio purchased a damaged boat, the Acadia, in Rarotonga and obtained a shipping licence.^[2]

In September 2005 the Manu Nui ran out of fuel and drifted while travelling from Pukapuka to Rarotonga, after failing to refuel.^[3][4]

In June 2006 Taio Shipping diverted the MV Maungaroa from its usual schedule for a charter for the producers of Survivor: Cook Islands, causing a fuel and electricity crisis on the island of Mangaia.^[5]

In January 2008 the MV Maungaroa ran aground in Avatiu during a storm.^[6]

In October 2010 the MV Te Kou Maru II was stranded on the reef at Mauke.^[6] The wreck was left to rust for several years.^[7]

In January 2017 the newly purchased MV Moana Nui was wrecked on a reef in Nassau.^[8] An investigation attributed the wreck to lack of a detailed chart, inadequate radio communication, and lack of familiarity with the reef.^[9] The wreck was still in place a year later.^[10] A contract to salvage and remove the wreck was issued in November 2019.^[11]

In September 2019 all of the company's ships were detained by the Cook Islands Ministry of Transport after a child was lost overboard from the MV Lady Moana while travelling from Rakahanga to Rarotonga.^[12] A subsequent safety assessment by Maritime New Zealand found significant failings on the company's ships, and as a result the MV Grinna II was approved to carry only 12 passengers while the passenger licences for the MV Maungaroa II and MV Lady Moana were withdrawn.^[13] While the ships were detained, the northern islands ran out of imported food and petrol.^[14] In 2020 the MV Maungaroa II was taken out of service pending sale, and a larger vessel, the MV Maungaroa III, was purchased to replace it.^[15]

On 21 March 2022 the Grinna II ran aground on the reef at Manihiki.^[16] The vessel was deemed unsalvageable.^[17]