Four months after it sailed into T&T waters, the Ocean Flower 2 left yesterday for an unknown destination.
Reports were that the vessel was heading to Curaçao but president of Bridgemans Services group Brian Grange would only say that the vessel left “to work on another route or to be sold.”
“It is going to a place where there is dependable law and order,” was all he would say when pressed for more details.
There were reports that the vessel experienced engine problems as it was departing but Grange said the vessel was performing perfectly in the rough weather “with the addition of the TFoils done by the local dockyard in Chaguaramas.”
Grange said Bridgemans spent several million dollars in capital upgrades on he vessel which arrived in this country on September 20, the same day the Port Authority of T&T (PATT) closed tenders for a passenger ferry for the seabridge. It was one of eleven vessels tendered but none was selected after months of evaluation by the PATT’s evaluation committee.
A four-man ministerial team headed by Finance Minister Colm Imbert is now leading the search for a passenger ferry with the help of NIDCO.
Grange said Bridgemans still had the option of legal recourse but “hopes to meet with the government bodies to complete this phase of the contract negotiations without the use of legal teams.”
Asked for clarity on what this meant, vice president of Bridgemans Andrew Purdey said there had been no communication.
“All we look for is a close out meeting,” he said.
In late June, the Ocean Flower 2 was contracted along with its sister ship the Cabo Star for the passenger and cargo service on the seabridge between Trinidad and Tobago. However, the Ocean Flower 2 failed to meet three separate arrival deadlines and its contract was cancelled in early August.
The cancellation coincided with a damning report compiled by PATT chief engineer Brendon Powder and then CEO of the Inter Island Transport Service Leon Grant which identified several shortcomings and problems with the vessel. Following their inspection of the vessel in Panama they deemed it unsafe for the seabridge pending recommended repairs.
Grant was subsequently suspended.
Bridgemans still has the contract for the cargo ferry service and is hoping to have that one year contract extended.
Grange said the company was open to discussions but needed to have a commitment in place by the end of March 2018.
Procurement of the Ocean Flower 2 and the Cabo Star have been the focus of investigations by a Joint Select Committee of Parliament and businessman Christian Moutett.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has expressed concern that there was something crooked in the procurement of the vessels.
Former transport minister Devant Maharaj said he understood the Ocean Flower 2 was heading to Curaçao and “will be exchanged for another vessel and that new vessel would be brought back to Trinidad.”
Efforts to contact PATT chairman Alison Lewis for comment yesterday were futile.