Seabridge in Crisis
The “Bridge” in this case is the sea-bridge between Tobago and Trinidad. The sea-bridge is a vital link, an absolutely necessary connection between the two islands of our nation. Without a sea-bridge the lives of Tobagonians in particular becomes a living hell as they cannot commute to Trinidad at an affordable price and in safety, comfort and with certainty in order to transact business which can only be done in Trinidad; or to attend classes at tertiary institutions or to go to work in Trinidad. Without a reliable sea-bridge Trinidadians cannot travel to Tobago is large numbers for their vacation – be it for long weekends or during the school holidays – as the air bridge just cannot transport everyone who wants to go to Tobago. This has major negative implications for the tourism sector in Tobago which depends very heavily on Trinidadians to occupy hotels, guest houses and villas and to buy goods and services especially during the long July-August vacation period.
The sea-bridge has been in crisis for the past six months. The two fast ferries – the Spirit and the Express – have not worked together for months as one is on dry dock for very major repairs and the other is also in need of dry-docking and is not working on all its engines meaning the trip takes longer than usual. If this vessel conks out there will be no passenger ferries operating the sea-bridge – meaning that this aspect of the bridge will collapse totally. The cargo bridge was down for several weeks after the Superfast Galicia was pulled from the bridge by its owners following the collapse of contract arrangements. The cargo bridge saw a temporary and highly unsatisfactory replacement installed and this has now been addressed by the lease of the Cabo Star.
However, the firm from which the Cabo Star is being leased – one Bridgemans Services Group – has failed to deliver the second vessel which it was contracted to provide – a passenger fast ferry. There have been many questions about the lease and disturbing issues surround the bona fides of Bridgemans. This lease for the boat – the Ocean Flower 2 – has now been terminated by the Port Authority and the Ministry of Works. So Bridgemans and the Port and the Ministry have left the passenger sea-bridge dangerously exposed to collapse since if the Express, which is limping along on three of its four engines, shuts down the bridge will be non-existent.
Who is In Command?
The fact is that what should be a very simple task of ensuring that the sea-bridge between Tobago and Trinidad is in proper place has been bungled very, very badly. This is totally unacceptable. It is disrespectful especially to Tobagonians. Such failure must not be tolerated – not by citizens of Trinidad and Tobago. In the circumstances there must at minimum be full disclosure. The MSJ therefore supports the demand for the Rowley PNM Government to provide all the details of the procurement process of the Cabo Star and Ocean Flower 2. We must be informed as to how Bridgemans came to the attention of the Port and Ministry and how was it contracted to provide the vessels: whether there was a process of open tendering or select tendering and if so, which companies were invited to tender; and how and based on what criteria was Bridgemans selected. We must be informed as to whether there was any middle-man or broker involved in the process and if so who was this person/firm. We must have the entire lease agreement placed in the public domain. We must be informed as to what comparable costs of vessels are on the open market globally. We must see all the reports on this issue as well as all the correspondence between the Port Authority and the Ministry/Minister. Nothing must be left out of the public domain.
Secondly, someone must be held to account for this imbroglio. It is not good enough for persons who hold public office to fail to discharge their responsibilities to simply continue in office with citizens expected to “move on” as a previous Prime Minister stated as being the reasonable thing to happen some years ago when she was manning the bridge. We cannot just “move on” from one crisis to another, with no consequences. If a police officer can be suspended for what some deem “rude photos”, then someone must be held to account for the suffering of tens of thousands of citizens when the sea-bridge collapses.
The MSJ calls on the Prime Minister who is supposed to be manning the bridge of SS Trinidad and Tobago to make a definitive statement on this imbroglio