Passengers relieved as Buccoo Reef reaches Port of Spain without trouble

Passengers aboard the Buccoo Reef inter-island fast ferry said they were relieved when the vessel docked safely at the Port of Spain port on Monday afternoon.

On Sunday, passengers aboard the vessel panicked and had to wait an hour longer to reach Port of Spain after a mechanical problem delayed docking.

“After hearing what happened yesterday (Sunday), I get frightened. I could only imagine how those passengers felt. I was praying the whole time,” a Bethel woman told Newsday.

Another passenger said she had qualms about travelling on the vessel after she heard about the problem it encountered at sea, and wanted to change her ticket.

The National Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (Nidco), in a statement, said the Buccoo Reef, which left Scarborough at 9.30 am on Sunday, developed a difficulty with the blow-out valve on one of its engines as it approached the channel entrance to the Port of Port of Spain.

Nidco said the problem resulted in the vessel eventually docking at 1.30pm instead of the scheduled 12.30pm.

Chairman of the Port Authority retired Col Lyle Alexander said the Buccoo Reef’s sailing to Trinidad on Monday, as far as he knew, was incident-free.

“My information is that the vessel left Tobago this morning (Monday) and is on its way to Trinidad. That is information that has come to me,” he told Newsday.

The Government bought the Buccoo Reef and the APT James to bolster the inter-island seabridge. The Buccoo Reef was built by Australian company Incat at a cost of approximately US$73 million.