Bay Ferries, the Canadian Company which had the contract to service the inter-island passenger ferries for 11 years, is insisting its management contract with the Port Authority of T&T was valued at just under TT$7 million a year and not US$7 million. But figures obtained by the T&T Guardian tell a different story.
Port insiders said the management fee, which was US$954,475, “was just a small part of what we paid annually. In addition to the management fee we also paid for parts, maintenance, crew and airfare for their maintenance team to and from the country. We also paid housing accommodation and other incidentals, all of which was paid in US dollars.”
A breakdown of the invoice paid to the company for the year 2014-2015 and which is similar to invoices paid in previous years, gives the breakdown for payment:
Management contract—US$954,475
Wages and benefits—US$2,907,157.96
Crew accommodation—US$151,500
Accommodation & cleaning— US$21,933.71
Meal allowance BFML—US$233,335,
Vehicle rentals—US$93,544.54
Utilities—US$26,194.32
Insurance ship managers—US $14,649.16
Maintenance—US $2,205,695.21
Captain petty cash—US$4,375.06
Staff reimbursement non-management—US$120,480.00
Agency fees Melville Shipping—US$191,614.34
The figures represent an annual cost to the country of US 7,236,218.77
Last Friday, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said both inter-island passenger vessels—the T&T Spirit and T&T Express—had been operating without maintenance for a long time. He added to concerns voiced by both former port commissioner Ferdie Ferreira and Seamen and Waterfront Workers Trade Union president Michael Annisette that US$7 million was paid annually for 11 years for the maintenance of the vessels.
Rowley also expressed concern that the Port had been left with no maintenance data and that Government had since sent to the Australian manufacturers to advise the port on how to proceed.
Yesterday, Bay Ferries said it left the country on September 30, 2016, when its management contract with the Port ended, adding “throughout our entire time serving the people of Trinidad and Tobago we supported an exceedingly reliable ferry service with vessels maintained to international technical and regulatory standards.”
The company insisted that “some Trinidadian navigation officers developed high speed ferry expertise second to none in the world.”
As to the current problems on the inter-island service, it said the Port Authority was “well aware of the need for significant scheduled maintenance projects on both vessels after September 30th 2016.” Bay Ferries insisted that as it prepared to finish its assignment, “we supported whatever transition was going to take place, in a number of ways.”
This, according to Bay Ferries, included delivering all BFML controlled and approved safety management documentation to the port, facilitating direct contact with the port so that any BFML personnel who so wished could continue to work with the port after the company left on September 30.
Bay Ferries is also saying that contrary to what is being said, “all vessel technical plans, manuals and other documentation remained on board the vessels.” It is also insisted “historical vessel maintenance data remained fully accessible on board databases,” but it said to access those databases the Port had to arrange “for its own software licence and applicable training,” which it said subsequently occurred.
According to Bay Ferries, the port was in possession “of very detailed technical reports of all significant work undertaken on the vessels over the years. The company said it was “saddened” that it was being blamed for the difficulties now being experienced on the ferry service.
Port Authority chairman Allison Lewis yesterday told the T&T Guardian that she was holding fast to her position that “we did not negotiate properly with Bay Ferries.” She said her priority now is finding a vessel for the inter-island ferry service.
