Proprietors of the tugboat that crashed into the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB), dislocating a pontoon anchoring chain last week Friday, have agreed to stand the cost for expenses incurred.
General Manager Wayne Watson, while not disclosing the sum to be repaid, said the DHB corporation has been in contact with the company’s lawyer and they have indicated that they will cover the cost for materials and amounts paid to divers.
Watson explained that a breakdown of the cost was dispatched to the company yesterday and the process is being followed for payments to be made to the DHB corporation.
The vessel ‘Megan S’ crashed into spans 52 and 56 while transporting logs.
“The issue is that at the time the barge was trying to traverse the high span; that was not the tide and time to do that traversing. Whatever is the situation it suggests that the tide played a part,” Watson had explained.
It was later confirmed that the tugboat was travelling at the wrong time due to the tide schedule. Watson had said that their investigation would have to determine what influenced the captain’s decision to travel at that point.
“From what we observed when it [the barge and tug] was moved, is that a part of the anchorage system was damaged. In terms of what really transpired, we can’t really say because we are getting conflicting stories. One time we heard that the tug broke down and another time was that the rope cut.”
He explained that engineers saw “no major damage.”
When the incident occurred, traffic was stalled to ensure that the bridge was safe for travel. “We first ensured that it was safe and there was no major damage. Then we ensured that the traffic wasn’t built up and people could traverse the bridge.”
