Tobago transport ease

Traditional transport problems for persons seeking to travel between Trinidad and Tobago, whether on business or pleasure, will be eased somewhat with the arrival later this month of the Sonia, a 1,200-passenger vessel which Government has chartered until it acquires two boats of its own for the run. The relatively new ferry, launched in June of this year, will be of benefit to both Trinidad and Tobago, and with its ability to hold up to 250 cars will afford Trinidadians going across to Tobago for a holiday weekend or on vacation the facility of taking their vehicles with them. Or vice versa. And while the anticipated revenue from the passenger and freight services to be provided by the Sonia will not cover the US$24,000 a day charter tag it will cost the Central Government, nonetheless the emphasis placed by Minister of Works  Franklin Khan, on the “substantial subsidy” Government will be paying out may have been inappropriate.

Instead, it is the benefits to both islands of the unitary State which should be stressed. The pressing into service of the Sonia will mean both the faster trans-shipment of regional and overseas cargo offloaded at the Port-of-Spain and Point Lisas Ports consigned to Tobago, as well as the quicker shipment of agriculture and other produce from Tobago to Trinidad. This will result in lower warehousing costs and, ipso facto lower landed costs for imported and trans-shipped goods and Tobago farm produce. It will contribute in the short and medium-term to the lowering of the cost of living as well.

In addition, the chartering or leasing of the Sonia will facilitate the shipping of Trinidad as well as Tobago-produced small manufactures from one island to another, a factor increasingly of crucial importance at a time when access to traditional regional markets has been interrupted by the negative effect Hurricane Ivan has had on the ability of Caricom merchants to import TT goods. Another plus with respect to benefits which will be derived from the faster turnaround of the Sonia and, eventually, the two ferries which Government will be acquiring shortly, will lie in the ability of TTEC and WASA to ship urgently needed large pieces of equipment to Tobago. Government, even as it talks of “substantial subsidy” for the Sonia and, ultimately, for the two vessels to come on stream, should take into account its direct subsidy, for example, of the Public Transport Service Corporation, and its tacit subsidy of BWIA West Indies Airways and LIAT.

What is critical is the around the corner ability of Trinidadians and Tobagonians to readily visit each other’s island, as well as the facilitating of commerce between TT. Meanwhile, when Government acquires the two new ferries for the Trinidad-Tobago run it should insist on the training of engineering personnel for the proper maintenance and repair of the vessels to ensure that they are kept on the run on a regular basis, save for overhaul consistent with the shipbuilders’ estimate. Proper maintenance standards are unfortunately a minus in this country whether with respect to buses, Police cars and jeeps or even vessels for the inter-island run. Both constituent units of the twin-island State, we are certain, look forward to a marked and uninterrupted improvement in passenger and cargo shipment opportunities between Tobago and Trinidad.