Government is looking to lease a new ferry to replace the docked MV Lady Northcote on the North West route and has promised two new ships for the route next year.
“The Minister of Public Infrastructure was authoried to start negotiating immediately to look into the first instance of leasing a new vessel from overseas, and in the second instance, we have already starting talking with the government of India to build two new vessels for that route,” Cabinet Secretary Joseph Harmon told a post-Cabinet media briefing yesterday.
Harmon disclosed that Cabinet approved $69M for the docking and repair of the Lady Northcote but President David Granger and his ministers aired concerns not only about the feasibility of maintaining the old vessels but sea travel availability for persons, especially residents of Region One.
During his 2015 presidential campaign, Granger had argued that the retention of the aging Lady Northcote, launched in 1937, and the MV Barima, which ervice the North West region, was holding back commerce and development. He promised the residents of the region a more modern and efficient service.
At a press engagement yesterday, General Mana-ger of the Transport and Harbours Department Marclene Merchant bemoaned the state of not only the Lady Northcote but also the MV Barima and MV Torani. She emphasised that they were in urgent need of repair. Merchant informed that it will cost an estimated $270M to repair the latter two vessels. The two boats have been out of commission for about three months.
Currently, the MV Kimbia is used for transporting passengers to the North West, while private ferries are used to take cargo.
Harmon stated that the rigour of travel on persons was of grave concern to the administration. “It was the concern of Cabinet because of the age of these vessels that we did not want them to be on that route for very much longer. We wanted to satisfy the people of Region One that we are going to put in place a very firm type of arrangement that will satisfy them,” he said.
“Over the past couple of years, the service to that region has been most erratic. Sometimes you don’t get a boat for a month, two months; people bring their produce to the wharf and then it’s spoilt and they can’t get it out, so we decided that government was going to take a firm position on this matter and are not prepared to rely on these vessels that have been there for a very long time,” he added.
Harmon said that government expects Minister of Infrastructure David Patterson to immediately commence negotiations for a new ship that will ply the route and “very soon” persons will be able to access that service. “The minister was told to start negotiating immediately… certainly, the contemplation is we will lease that vessel until such time those two (vessels) come from India, so there will be no break,” he stressed.
He noted that in the interim, the MV Malali will be working in place of the Lady Northcote.
Meanwhile, the T&HD yesterday detailed the expected repairs to the aged vessels. Dwayne Griffith, the Chief Mechanical Engineer, said that anything above the permissible level of degradation will be cropped out and replaced on the vessels. “That is inclusive of the navigational deck, hull, main deck, passenger accommodation, lavatory facilities, sun deck, and basically everything,” he said.
When questioned on whether it would be more feasible to obtain a new boat, he said that it would be costlier. “…Even though it is old, we think it is somewhat more feasible to repair,” he stated.
Merchant said the MV Barima can take the place of the Northcote. She said while it currently takes around 36 hours for the Northcote to reach Port Kaituma, with a fully repaired Barima, which recently upgraded its engines, the trip should take around 25 hours.
She also disclosed that the Goods Wharf and the Georgetown Ferry Wharf have been slated for full rehabilitation which will cost about $165M. The repairs to the Goods Wharf will include reconstructing the piles, beams, decking, fending system, and the storage facilities. The repairs to the Ferry Wharf will be similar and will also include renovation of the speedboat docking area.
