Cargo will get to Tobago

Yesterday Works and Transport Minister, Rohan Sinanan took a tour of the barge and the cargo ship that would be temporarily replacing the Super Fast Galicia which returned to Gibraltar early yesterday morning.

On Friday, a legal letter was sent to the Galicia’s local agent, Inter-Continental Shipping Limited, from the law offices of Dr Claude Denbow SC on behalf of Sinanan and the Government.

It argued that the Galicia should remain in use until the current charter hire agreement expired on October 31.

Sinanan told members of the media that the company’s lawyers replied to the letter, that the State’s attorney sent them a further letter and litigation matters would begin soon. “We are adamant, based on the opinion of the senior counsel, that there was a contract in place. So I guess by tomorrow (Sunday), when is the next sailing day, and there is not a vessel here from Inter-Continental, then we consider that to be a breach.” Also on Friday, there was some confusion at the Scarborough port when, after over a 12-hour delay at the Port-of-Spain port, truckers were told they could not take their trucks back to Trinidad.

President of the Truckers and Traders Association, Horace Amede, said, at the time, they were told the Galicia would not return to Trinidad but would sail straight to Gibralta. However, in the end, that was not the case.

Amede said he believed the provider panicked when he saw a Coast Guard vessel at the port, knowing litigation matters would arise from the loss of the Galicia.

However, Sinanan said the Coast Guard vessel was making a routine trip in Tobago and stressed that Government never intended to impound the Galicia. “I called him (the provider) and gave him the assurance that the government was not considering impounding any vehicle and he immediately started to load the cargo and came back to Trinidad.” Sinanan admitted the rates of US$14,000 per day for the ferry and US$8,000 a day for the barge was a bit higher because the contract was short term and monthto- month. However, he said Government had to do something in the short term to ensure there was no disruption in the transportation of cargo when Inter-Continental gave Government only 14 days notice.

The barge, which would be pulled by a tugboat, is expected to transport construction material and heavy equipment while the ferry could accommodate roll-on-roll-off, break bulk cargo, heavy lift cargo, and has outlets for refrigerated containers.

He noted some people in Tobago said they would refuse to use the barge but said the Port Authority board would soon go to Tobago to meet with stakeholders in an attempt to “iron out” these challenges. “I think once they see what we are offering, and knowing it’s just an interim measure, I am hoping that they would come around to use the vessel.” He stressed the vessels would be a short term measure, for two or three months, while the medium- term plan was for another vessel to be leased, and eventually the purchase of one vessel that could handle the cargo between the islands. “Monday the tender for the medium term, which is the vessel to be leased for three years will be closed and opened by Tuesday. Then we have the longterm plan which is the purchase of the new vessel.” Tobago business owners remained cautious about the reliability of the temporary boats, saying their operations were already affected by the recent delays.

“We are all affected, directly and indirectly in Tobago when the boat doesn’t sail on schedule and when we don’t have a boat,” Claude Almandoz, owner of Almandoz Hardware said yesterday.

He expressed concern about panic buying.

“We didn’t have the time frame to organise our business to get the volume of stock we need to supply for an extended period of time. Most people were able to pull a month’s stock, maybe two months if they were lucky, for us we do have stock but it will depend on whether persons start to panic buy in Tobago.” Almandoz also had questions about the efficiency of the replacement boats, especially the barge.

“Cargo is of a perishable nature, it’s not aggregate and sand, we talking about steel and hardware goods, am I going to put that on a barge to have sea water affect it?” He raised the possibility of price increases prices given the added time to transport cargo to Tobago, the limited space for trucks on the new vessels and the demand for shipping.

Chairman of the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Commerce, Tobago chapter, Demi Cruickshank yesterday said the chamber will make a statement on the vessels by tomorrow. However, he said his business, D#1 Hardware is already out of hollow clay blocks.

And Amede, was again yesterday holding Government accountable for the transport troubles since it was brewing since last year.

“The stories keep changing, we don’t know who to believe, but we know the Government was aware that the chaos that happened at the Scarborough Port (on Friday) wouldn’t occur if certain arrangements were made.” He reiterated that even though a barge will be in use, the truckers will not transport goods to Tobago on it.

Tobago House of Assembly Minority Leader Watson Duke also criticised the choice of vessels, saying they were slower and would take too long to transport goods.

“It is not a barge and a ship, it’s two barges. One is a barge that requires a tug; it’s an old barge. Anything that takes more than eight hours to reach between Trinidad and Tobago is a barge.” He blamed Government for the impasse with Galicia’s owners.

“I think the Galicia was well within their rights and the Government should be charged for obstruction. If they didn’t re-fuel the Galicia, if they didn’t give them the demobilization after a month to month contract…The Government is a bold-face government who wants to use the court, and certain PNM agents inside the court, to bully people.

Hence, they now trying to bully the Galicia and if they said they were leaving by a certain time, the Government knew.” THA Secretary for Tourism, Culture and Transportation Nadine Stewart-Phillips, as Sinanan did, indicated discussions are continuing on the purchase of a fast ferry and cargo vessel. She reminded that Chief Secretary Kelvin Charles, last month, had assured “to have one (cargo boat) that is custom built” for the island’s needs.