Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan held late evening crisis talks yesterday as he moved with more urgency to resolve the inter-island cargo ferry situation, after being given a Monday deadline ultimatum by Tobago stakeholders.
Contacted in his office after 6 pm, Sinanan told the T&T Guardian: “I am meeting with Inter-Continental, the port management, the Permanent Secretary and others. I am working on this thing very seriously because I know this is the lifeline for Tobago.”
Sinanan said he had told the Port management “they have to work day and night until they solve this problem.”
Inter-Continental Shipping Limited managing director John Powell had earlier told the T&T Guardian he wrote Sinanan indicating he had sourced a replacement vessel for the Super Fast Galicia on the Tobago sea bridge. That vessel, he said, can arrive here by the middle of May.
Addressing this possibility later on, Sinanan said he was willing “to consider all options.” But he said they wanted to get a “clearer picture from Inter-Continental what is the vessel that they are offering.” He said there was a tender process taking place and they “were looking at all the options out there.”
Desperate to find a solution before the Galicia departs on April 18, Sinanan announced at yesterday’s post-Cabinet press briefing that he was looking at the option of using two military vessels owned by the Ministry of National Security to transport cargo between Trinidad and Tobago. A suggestion by Sinanan for a barge to transport goods to Tobago was shot down on Wednesday by the Tobago Chamber and other stakeholders at a meeting in Tobago.
Speaking to the T&T Guardian yesterday, Powell said he wrote to Sinanan and the Port Authority of T&T (PATT) telling them of the latest development, “so the worst case scenario is that we will be three to four weeks without a cargo vessel.” Acting Prime Minister Colm Imbert said the military supply vessels will be manned by military personnel, adding these vessels were normally used to transport supplies.
Powell said at a meeting with Sinanan in January, he had told the minister “we will buy the Galicia and flag it under the Trinidad and Tobago flag, the proposed name was the Super Fast Tobago, but it was rejected.”
The Jamaican-born businessman, who has been operating in T&T for the past 18 years, said “there had been no complaints about the Galicia, whenever an issue arose we dealt with it quickly.” He said he also could not understand why Sinanan was making an issue of a request for a three-year contract for the vessel.
“We have been operating on a month-to-month contract, he refused to give the Galicia a three-year contract, but the tender they have out now looking for a new vessel is offering a three-year contract,” Powell said.
Despite this, he said there are now 13 international brokers “looking for a vessel, but that did not include Inter-Continental.”
Sinanan had said Inter-Continental asked for a contract for five years — three years initially and then two one-year contracts. It was on that basis he said he returned to Cabinet and they agreed to “buy a new vessel and build one specific to the requirements of the country.”
Sinanan is adamant the country must never find itself in this position again. He said “whatever sacrifice we have to make I am going after the Cabinet to get a new cargo vessel owned by Trinidad and Tobago and a new fast ferry for the inter-island run, If I could achieve that I would be satisfied with what I have done for the country. But this must never happen again.”
But yesterday, Powell said when he asked for the three-year contract followed by two years, it meant after three years Government could have negotiated for another one-year contract.
