Electrical issue causes delay for Galleons Passage

THE Galleons Passage was delayed en route to Tobago yesterday morning after leaving Port of Spain at 6.30 am for the Scarborough port.

Herbert George, chairman of National Infrastructure Development Company Limited (NIDCO) dismissed rumours that the vessel experienced engine issues.

“It was not engine issues. What happened is we got an alarm on the vessel and they (vessel crew) have checked it out.

The crew onboard had done some investigations so they had to stop the vessel for a while to continue that process. The electronics communicating between the engine and the bridge is where we seem to have a problem. What they did was turn off that engine, so the boat is running on three engines.”

He added the boat travelled at 15 knots, delaying the expected time of arrival in Tobago from 10 am to midday. The vessel was carrying 350 passengers and approximately 50 cars.

A further check was made when the vessel arrived in Tobago. It returned to Trinidad travelling at 15-16 knots at 4pm.

George said despite the electrical issues, he was confident it was safe for the Galleons Passage to do a return sailing to Trinidad. “Those vessels carry four engines so you can isolate one, you can run on three, even on two. The thing is when you are using less engines it will of course affect only the speed.”

He said he was not gravely concerned by one electrical issue onboard the new vessel. “If it really was an engine problem I would have been, but it’s an electrical problem. Probably a small gadget that might have blown and all they need to do is pull it out and replace it.

That’s the nature of what we are experiencing here, it happens with any machinery. As opposed to an engine part needing change, that’s different.”

A release from NIDCO said the vessel was stopped for 15 minutes – between 9.15am to 9.30am – to allow the engine crew to do preliminary checks.

Lyle Alexander, Port Authority chairman, told Newsday he was aware of the issue.

When asked about the extent of repairs that may need to be done, how long and whether or not the vessel may be pulled out of service during this time, he said “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, the vessel is on its way to Tobago.

We experienced problems. It was delayed. Until it gets to Tobago let’s not try to answer those questions. If the boat had a problem before it sailed, I don’t think it would have sailed.”