The business community in Tobago is praising Caribbean Airlines for “saving the day,” in the face of the crisis created when the seabridge collapsed last week in the height of the Carnival season.
President of the Tobago Chamber Demi John Cruickshank told the T&T Guardian that without the intervention of Caribbean Airlines there would have been “a further collapse of the already staggering business sector in Tobago.”
And while he was high in praise of CAL, Cruickshank was highly critical of the Port Authority and the Chairman Alison Lewis.
“We are satisfied with what CAL did, but we are totally unhappy with the Port,” which had failed to keep the business and the Tobago community up to date on what is the status of the T&T Express and the T&T Spirit, “we don’t know when either of the vessels will return to the seabridge,” he said.
Cruickshank said “the Port has not given us any update as to what the status of the Spirit or the Express in terms of the extension of the licence for the Express. We have not had any word from the Port and we hope that between today and tomorrow the Port will give us some update as to what is happening with those vessels.”
The Tobago Chamber head said the Port needs to understand there is an economic cost to Tobago when the seabridge collapses. He said when the T&T Express was pulled from service last week, “a lot of people took back money from the guest house owners. They also ask for refunds from hoteliers and everybody because they just did not feel safe coming to Tobago.”
Cruickshank said, “although CAL did well people felt the predictability was not there and when the boats broke down people who wanted to come with cars and their families just opted not to come to Tobago for Carnival.”
The Tobago Chamber, he said, “is calling on the Port to make an official statement as to what is the status of the two fast ferries the T&T Express and the T&T Spirit, and when are they expected to be back in operation.”
Cruickshank said the airline really saved the day because it used both ATRs and 727 jets to ensure that there were enough seats to accommodate passengers, so much so, he said, that on Saturday there were more flights available than passengers and some of the flights had to be cancelled.
He said CAL may also need to save Tobago this coming weekend when there are two major fetes on the island, Call to Paradise with Machel Montano and another hosted by Iwer George, at the Magdalena and Pigeon Point, “so a lot of people supposed to be coming to Tobago.”
Cruickshank also commended the Cabo Star which, he said, stepped up to the plate and “although they cannot take a lot of passengers because they don’t have the accommodation, they did transport the cargo we needed and the vehicles.” The Cabo Star has the capacity to transport 130 trucks.
While Bridgeman Services Group (BSG) could provide no details on the number of vehicles transported by the Cabo Star over the Carnival period, BSG President Brian Grange told the T&T Guardian the vessel’s “versatility is in the expansive lane metres on board.” He said, “the vessel was never at vehicle capacity.”
The Cabo Star is operating on a one-year contract.
Grange said the contract stipulates “extensions must be nominated by March as we need to plan for our next contract wherever that might be,” but as yet he said there had been no discussions with the Port on an extension of the lone cargo vessel on the seabridge.