Tobago to get new ferry for Christmas

Tobago’s Christmas gift of a “spanking new ferry” will arrive just 18 days before the Tobago House of Elections. Works Minister Franklin Khan announced yesterday that the vessel “Sonia” will arrive in Trinidad on December 20.  It will cost US$24,000 per day and, Khan said, this meant that Government would have to make a “substantial subsidy” towards the cost, since it did not intend to increase the fares either for cargo or passengers.
 
“Government feels the inter-island service is of a strategic nature,” the minister stated. He was speaking at a post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall. Khan said he had been in charge of the exercise and he would like to say it is “coincidental” that it was happening at the time of the THA elections. “But it is almost sure that a lot of people out there would believe otherwise,” he said, adding, “the population would decide.”

Khan said the vessel will be able to hold 250 cars and 1,200 people with 76 cabins. It will be accessible internally and externally. The ferry, which was constructed in June 2004, will be on its first charter when it comes to Trinidad and Tobago, he said. “It is as new as they come,” he said. Khan said it was Government’s intention to purchase two ferries, with the Sonia being leased in the interim. The tenderer of the Sonia was International Shipping Partners.