New fast ferries, patrol boats loan to be repaid over 12 years

Finance Minister Colm Imbert said the cost of the two patrol boats and two fast ferries, being acquired through financing arrangements with the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation of Australia (EFIC), is US$235.957 million.

He said the financing arrangement will cover 80 per cent of the total funding.

Imbert was responding to questions in the Senate on Tuesday about the recent disbursement of US$139 million to EFIC for the construction of the vessels. He said, in July 2018 Cabinet agreed to acquire from Australia two fast ferry catamarans to service the inter-island seabridge, and two patrol vessels for the Coast Guard, to patrol the offshore areas of TT.

“They were as follows: one INCAT 100 metre fast ferry vessel costing US$72.977 million, one Austal 94 metre fast ferry vessel costing US$71.48 million, and two Austal naval CAPE-class patrol boats costing a total US $91.5 million.”

The minister also set out the terms and conditions of the credit agreement with EFIC for the financing of the vessels.

“The tenure of the financing facilities is 12 years, interest basis: six months LIBOR (London Inter-Bank Offered Rate), plus a fixed margin of 2.1 per cent, the current effective interest rate is 2.34 per cent, and the repayment structure is 24 consecutive semi-annual repayments.”

Imbert said the credit agreements could be laid in Parliament subject to the approval of Cabinet.