The Oceania Centre for Sustainable Transport has prepared this Regional Research and Education Strategy as a means of supporting Pacific Island governments and communities in their efforts to reduce dependency on imported fossil fuels and to transition to a low carbon sea transport future. The sea transport issues facing Oceania, especially at the domestic level, have always presented a particularly difficult issue for PICs to find long-term, sustainable, and cost-viable solutions for, even in periods of relatively low energy costs. The unique characteristics of Pacific shipping (long routes, minute economies, imbalance in inward and outward loadings, financing barriers, high risk, high infrastructural costs, etc) present a greater challenge than for many other countries and regions. Imported fuel prices and the demand for global emissions reduction will continue to rise in the long-term.