George: Galleons awaiting clearance from Lloyd’s, Maritime Services

Herbert George, Chairman of the National Infrastructure Development Company Limited, (NIDCO) said work was proceeding on having delivery of Galleons Passage within seven days, with the ferry awaiting clearance from Lloyd’s and the Marine Services Division.

“All the certificates have not yet been issued, there are some but there are some important certificates that must be issued by Lloyd’s… it goes back to about two months ago when we mentioned the gap analysis.

“At that time the MSD (Marine Services Division) had asked Lloyd’s to do that analysis so that was done. Subsequently, they asked for another analysis and they flagged certain things that needed to be instituted on the vessel before the certificates could have been given. So that is all we are working on now,” George said in a telephone interview with Newsday Tobago on Tuesday.

“We were finishing up some items which were flagged …We have to correct those, we have to do what they asked us to do so that they can issue us with the necessary certificates to put the vessel into service for passengers. So, we are at the point now where we are getting close to the end of those issues that we had to resolve,” he added.

George also said the Galleons Passage was built in accordance with an Australian code, which is applicable in Australia only, and not accepted in TT.

“The local authorities did not accept it, they wanted it to be in accordance with the SOLAS, so that is why we had to make the changes, since Trinidad and Tobago adheres to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), an international maritime treaty that sets minimum safety standards in the construction, equipment and operation of seagoing vessels,” he said.

In his budget presentation on Monday, Finance Minister Colm Imbert said the “the fast ferry, the TT Spirit, is now being joined by the Galleons Passage to improve the sea bridge, which the Minister of Works and Transport has advised will make its first official commercial journey to Tobago within the next seven days.”

Meanwhile, Vilma Lewis-Cockburn, marketing and public relations manager at the T&T Inter-island Transportation Company (TTIT) , said on Tuesday that the cargo ferry, the Cabo Star, was to return to the inter-island route yesterday.

Cockburn said on Monday, inclining tests was carried out on the vessel with it being lowered into the water at CARIDOC, while on Tuesday, it left the dockyard for berthing at the Port of Spain harbor, where further tests and inspections of engine and shipyard works were carried out to ensure no performance and safety issues were done.

The Cabo Star went on drydock on September 20 for an initial ten-day period, with TTIT saying its return was delayed are heavy rainfall interrupted painting works.