The sea bridge between Trinidad and Tobago is on the verge of collapse should the lone fast ferry passenger vessel, the T&T Express, go out of operation, as US$8 million is required to make the T&T Spirit fully operational again.
This was disclosed during yesterday’s Joint Select Committee investigating the procurement and maintenance of the inter-island ferries by Port Authority of T&T manager of the fast ferries, Michelle Scipio-Hosang.
In fact, what should have been a six-week period of dry-docking for the T&T Spirit has now been extended until late October or early November, according to Port Authority board chairman Alison Lewis.
The 20-year-old vessel went into dry-dock from June 1.
But the initial maintenance fee of US$3.2 million has now soared to US$8 million after major deficiencies were discovered, Scipio-Hosang said.
One of the issues will be having to cut the ship’s hull to get to the engine as parts have been severely damaged and in are need of replacement and/or refurbishment.
Lewis said mandatory dry-docking scheduling had not been followed for over a year on the vessel and this exacerbated the current problem.
She said maintenance was one of the major issues they (new PATT board) met when they came into office.
Lewis said they met the PATT in crisis and realised the authority had failed to fill several senior positions.
Scipio-Hosang said based on information coming to them it was clear that there were two dry-docking schedules that were missed.
“Some of the problems should have been addressed last year or the year before and because it was not addressed this is what is being experienced now,” Scipio-Hosang said.
Some of the major problems identified were engine and water jet issues.
“Spare parts for the engine will take three months for us to receive, which will cause a delay in the engine hull works. Some of the bearings are close to failure and if we put the vessel back into service in that condition it would cause further failure,” Scipio-Hosang said.
“In one of the engines it was discovered that the crankshaft failed and damaged from the failure, that is why the hull needs to be cut so that it would be removed and replaced,” she added.
Scipio-Hosang said out of the US$8 million projected to be spent on repairs, they should recover US$2.5 million via insurance.