Seaworthiness certificate for TT Express expected today

Even if the TT Express’ seaworthiness certification is renewed within the week, the sole ferry on the TT sea bridge remains grounded primarily because of rough seas, Port Authority (PATT) chairman, Alison Lewis, said today.

The certification expired at midnight on February 7, Lewis said, and an extension has been requested, but even if the port is granted that renewal, the ferry cannot sail until wave heights are reduced.

Lewis added that she was awaiting word from the port’s acting general manager, Trudy Gill-Conlon, as to when inspectors will visit the vessel.

The process to be recertified is not a lengthy one, Lewis said, but since the 22-year-old Express was supposed to be finally dry-docked in November for extensive repairs and refurbishment—something that had been put off since March 2016— the inspectors have asked for certain things to repaired beforehand. These have been done, she added and will know later today when the inspection will have been done. Asked why the certification process was so last minute, she said the request had been made in November, when it became clear that the Express’ sister ship, the 20-year-old TT Spirit, would not be released back into service, after being dry-docked since June 2017.

Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan confirmed Lewis’ assessment. He said that certification renewals have to be completed a day or two before expiration, which would have accounted for the last minute element.

He said certification can be assessed either by Norwegian-based international accreditors DNV TT Ltd or by the local Director of Maritime. Even if certification had not been attained and seas were fine for sailing, he said there would have been minimal disruption to ferry passengers since the Water Taxi was on standby.

As it stands, however, since all three water taxis and the fast ferry are catamarans, they cannot sail if waves exceed certain heights, or else risk hull damage. “We don’t want to have a disaster where we might say after, perhaps we should have done it differently. Rough seas are always a challenges,” he said.

The Newsday did point out to Sinanan that the new ferry, the Galleons Passage, expected in April, is also a catamaran, and therefore would still be subject to rough seas. It’s a compromise, he said. Dedicated cargo vessel, the Cabo Star, for example, which has been seconded this week to transport the passengers with vehicles booked on the Express, is not a catamaran. It’s designed for rough seas, but not for speed, Sinanan noted.

He did commend the port for ensuring passengers are accommodated on the air bridge, operated by state-owned Caribbean Airlines Ltd. CAL has added 4,720 seats its normal 20,444 capacity, as well as three additional flights, up until February 14. “There will be a little inconvenience, but at the end of the day they will get to Tobago. No one will be left back. In the past if they cancelled a sailing, it was up to the passenger to figure out how to get to Tobago,” Sinanan said.

He did acknowledge the frustration of commuters, but said the government was adamant at finding a solution to the sea bridge.

“People are frustrated. The government is frustrated. I am frustrated. But this is something we have to fix in a positive way and we are working on it. We don’t want to have vessels reaching this stage with nothing in place. We have to find a proper plan so we don’t ever have to deal with this again,” he said.