Traffic along the Berbice Bridge was temporary halted on Thursday night, after a vessel laden with sugar drifted into the structure.
The vessel, the MV Joanna Key, which was waiting on the bridges’ retraction time, lost an anchor and sailed down the Berbice River with the falling tide and hit several pontoons that hold the floating bridge on the southern section near the Palmyra Village end.
The accident occurred around 11:30pm and the bridge was reopened to normal traffic several hours after. Transport Minister Robeson Benn told Stabroek News that the vessel, which was laden with approximately 700 tonnes of sugar, drifted into the structure.
He said that there was temporary shutdown of the bridge but after an assessment, it was reopened to traffic.
He said that there was no damage to structure itself.
Persons in the area told this newspaper that the crew of the vessel may have been at fault, since they would have had enough time to avoid hitting the bridge.
They said that the crew should have recognised that the vessel was moved but this newspaper was told that the crew was asleep at the time.
The vessel was subsequently towed to the Stanleytown wharf and the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) has since commenced an investigation into the incident.
Earlier in the year, the Berbice Bridge Company Inc. (BBCI) had said that the construction of some sugar vessels, namely those with shaped hull and single propeller propulsion, increase the risk of collision with the bridge when they are fully laden and could cause significant damage to the cluster piles, pontoons, anchors, panels and transoms, thereby rendering the bridge unfit for its purpose.
