There are to be round trip daily sailings of the T&T Express, sailings of the Water Taxi on the sea bridge, while Caribbean Airlines has put additional flights as a contingency plan to assist with the transport of people to and from Tobago over this long weekend.
Caribbean Airlines has been under pressure for the past few weeks because of the on-going problems on the sea-bridge.
Corporate communications manager of CA,Dionne Ligoure, said the airline has been doing the best it can to accommodate passengers.
Ligoure said the airline had been planning “since the start of the year for the long weekend. She said, “We have a plan of action which includes additional flights and other contingencies.”
She did not want to go into detail on the “other contingencies,” but said the airline remains ready, “demand is healthy and the flights are booked,” she added.
Corporate communications manager of the Inter-Island Ferry Service, Vilma Lewis Cockburn, said there will be “one round trip sailing of the T&T Express daily.” In addition, she said, the Water Taxi will sail Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.”
Passengers have been choosing to put their vehicles on the T&T Express and then get a flight to Tobago, because of the length of time the vessel is taking to sail to and from Tobago, the trip is now five hours long. Lewis said the vessel is “heavy in terms of vehicles but there is still space for passengers.”
Lewis Cockburn said there will also be a sailing of the Atlantic Provider today— Corpus Christi— “to ensure that the cargo requirements to and from Tobago are met.”
Normal sailing times will apply for the Provider which will leave Port-of-Spain at midday and depart Scarborough at 11 pm
President of the Hotel and Tourism Association, Chris James, said the problems on the sea-bridge has been a “real let down.”
He said while “Caribbean Airlines is doing what they can with the aircraft and crew they have, the real let down is the sea-bridge. That’s what a lot of people use to come over.”
There are three major events in Tobago this weekend, Glow Fest, Dragon Boat Racing and a Golf Tournament.
James said weekends like this usually mean high occupancy, but he said, “There have been a lot of cancellations. People just cannot get to the island because of the sea-bridge issues.”
For the year, so far, he said, there had been a 30 per cent decline in local tourist arrivals to Tobago. But he said he would only have updated figures on this long weekend by the middle of next week.
Chairman of the Port Authority, Allison Lewis, said the Board has been doing the best it can to find vessels for the cargo and passenger ferry service. But, she said, “It takes time. There is a process and we need to do proper due diligence.”
She refused to be drawn in to any discussion on reports that a Greek vessel had been sourced.
Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan said he was awaiting word from the Port “they have not finalised anything.”
Lloyds of London, he said, is currently doing “checks on different vessels, they would submit a report to the port and the Port would make a recommendation to us.”
