The financial standing of Canadian-based ferry service provider Bridgemans Services LP was yesterday described as disastrous.
The comment was made by Joint Select Committee (JSC) member Wade Mark, as the hearing into the sea bridge and the procurement of the Ocean Flower 2 and Cabo Star entered its second day.
Mark said Dun and Bradstreet, which deals with the global commercial database of firms, reported that Bridgemans' finances were "disastrous," while they were totally unviable as a company, which was only formed in September 2015.
"They (Dun and Bradstreet) said they had no experience in the ferry service industry nor had an established office. You couldn't locate them at all. They were from Mars essentially. They only have six employees from our records. No trail data," Mark said, as vice president of Bridgeman's Andrew Purdey, who attended the JSC, bent his head.
Mark said so weak were Bridgemans they used the Port Authority of T&T to issue two press releases.
He asked Charmaine Lewis, PATT acting CEO and general manager, how they arrived at the daily rental rate of the Ocean Flower 2 which was US22,500, while the Cabo Star fetched US$26,500.
Mark said the vessels were so old they should have been in a scrap yard.
"The Cabo Star should not have cost the taxpayers of this country more than US$10,000 or max US$14,000. The Ocean Flower should not have been between US$10,000 to US$12,000."
Mark said Dun and Bradstreet's information should have raised some "red flags" with PATT and asked Lewis how they arrived "at these phenomenal figures for the two vessels" when the country was faced with financial constraints.
"One vessel is 29-years-old and the other is trailing rapidly on its heels. Given the figures and age of these vessels, they do not add up," Mark told Lewis.
In clarifying, Lewis said the T&T Inter-Island Transport Company Ltd members were not privy to the Dun and Bradstreet document.
"That document was dealt with by the board of the Port Authority. The pricing was submitted by the various proposals or offerings. Those were the prices submitted. In terms of negotiations, those negotiations, as indicated earlier, were held by deputy chair of the Port Authority," Lewis said.