Good news finally for users of the seabridge as word is that the T&T Spirit could be back out soon after a successful three-hour sea trial yesterday.
Chairman of the Port Authority, Lyle Alexander told Guardian Media that DNV, the company which has to certify the vessel’s seaworthiness for the seabridge, was satisfied, “there were no issues today, everything went quite well,” he said.
The vessel sailed the waters of the Gulf of Paria for the sea trials and Alexander said he expected that the Port will get the certification required for the vessel to resume service.
Yesterday, Lloyd’s Register auditors were to conduct a compliance audit and Alexander said: “once that is done we will be fully certified.”
He said this was “good news” for the seabridge which has been stalled for almost three months without a functional passenger ferry vessel.
The T&T Spirit has been on dry dock since early June 2017 and despite a number of previous sea trials the passenger ferry had failed to get the required certification for it to return to the seabridge.
The Port Authority had hoped that the vessel would have been back on track by Easter, but that failed to materialise after problems with the steering were identified and DMV failed to certify the vessel as fit for travel between Trinidad and Tobago.
Alexander said it is only when the boat is actually put on trial that issues can be identified “that is why you have to continue to be optimistic because when the vessel is alongside things will work a particular way, but when the engines are turning over 800-900 revolutions per minute other things can happen. That is why you are hopeful that the repairs that you would have done are good and that things will work good so that it can stand up to that kind of treatment.”
It is only when DMV, which has to give the required certification, is satisfied that the vessel is fit to travel between Trinidad and Tobago that it will get the necessary certification for the seabridge.
Alexander put the cost of repairs for the vessel at US$8 million so far, with extensive work being done to replace and repair engines, installation of a new crank shaft, replacement of two turbo chargers and repairs to seals, bearings and jets.
Some of the parts, according to Alexander, had to be ordered from abroad while others were stored in a warehouse in Tobago, because the Canadian Company which had the previous contract for repairs and maintenance, stored parts in Tobago where it did repair work.
Alexander said it is clear that maintenance of the vessels had been lacking and one of the things he wants to ensure as Port chairman is that a proper look be done at “the way we maintain vessels, that needs some improvement.”
Given the level of expenditure which had been expended, Alexander said: “we will have to do what we need to do to ensure that we get value for the expenditure by putting the maintenance programme in place to ensure that the vessel stays functional.”
As to the T&T Express, which was taken out of service just before Carnival, Alexander said the “docking repairs have not started,” because there are “things that need to be done before it goes into dry dock.”
Like the T&T Spirit, the T&T Express is docked alongside the Port of Port-of-Spain.
He said as chair of the port “the Board will do everything it possibly can to ensure that the overall strategy for the port in the country is satisfied. The strategic requirements of that policy will be satisfied,” he said.
Apart from the need for a proper maintenance programme, Alexander said there was need for improvement in the organisational structure, but he did not go into details.
Those details are contained in a report which he submitted to Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan.
GALLEONS PASSAGE HEADS FOR MEXICO
The Galleons Passage has finally left Honolulu for Mexico. The vessel arrived in Honolulu on April 3 where NIDCO said routine checks were undertaken on the vessel. The ferry had to wait several days before docking. It set sail yesterday and was up to late yesterday travelling at just under nine knots. The estimated arrival date to Mexico which was originally put at April 17, was changed yesterday on the Marine Traffic site to April 24.
In one of its earliest releases on the Galleons Passage dated February 23, NIDCO had detailed the travel passage plan which it said was approved by The Classification Society, Lloyd’s Register. That travel plan listed stops in Hong Kong for one day for bunkering, Honolulu, Hawaii for one day for bunkering, two days to transit the Panama Canal and 10 days in Cuba where a number of alterations, including installation of toilets and canopies, would be installed.
Mexico was not part of the plan. But the vessel is expected to spend five days for bunkering and for the crew to disembark in keeping with international regulations there. From Mexico, the Galleons Passage will head for the Panama Canal before leaving for Cuba where it has a 10-day stopover for alterations which include the installation of a full canopy over sundeck; installation of canopies over-exposed sections of vehicle deck; and installation of washroom facilities at sundeck level.