The distance the Tobago ferries have to travel between the islands is approximately 80 miles. For safety reasons the First Bocas cannot be used so the ferries sail through the Second Bocas which adds time on to the sailing schedule. The water or wave pattern is different on the sailing to Tobago as the wave comes at an angle to the sailing direction of the ferry that does not provide the passengers with the most comfortable ride. At certain times of the year, November to March in particular, the seas can get extremely rough. There have been cancellations of the service because of adverse sea conditions.
The current design of the passenger ferries being used, the Incat hull, have proven to be the best to date. They are fast, in excess of 35 knots, which should give a sailing time of just over two [2] hrs. Being a catamaran type design, with a wave piercing capability, it is probably one of the best vessels for the service. There are newer designs of the same basic hull that can take more passengers, up to 1200, more vehicles, higher speed, in excess of 53 knots and being longer, 115 mtrs and with a wider beam would make the ride a lot more comfortable. These newer vessels can be fitted with gas turbines as the main propulsion engines which would run on LNG. This alternative fuel would save tens of millions of dollars in the running costs of the ferry service. The saving in fuel costs would actually pay for the capital outlay for new vessels over a 15 yr period. In other words you could recover the costs of the purchase of the new vessels by just the saving on the fuel costs. Makes sense, no?
The PATT is going all over the place, from all reports not being overly successful in their quest to find replacement vessels. In the mean time Tobago is suffering.
My advice, negotiate a new contract with Bay Ferries or any other ferry management company to keep the existing ferries in service. Another idea would be to immediately sell the two existing ferries with a contract leasing them back with a management contract in place for another 24 months whilst you wait on the delivery of two new ferries.
The current situation is untenable. The way the PATT is going about the solution to the problem is just not going to work and is going to cost huge sums of money.
You need to come up with a strategy that is going to be both medium and long term. The short term fix is creating more problems than one can imagine.
Surely T&T is in a position to enter into a ferry deal, just like Sandal's or any energy based contract. Get it done!
The Constitution
Do we need a ceremonial Head of State? We once had the Chief Minister, then Premier, then Prime Minister. We had a Governor General then a President as Head of State. Is this really necessary? I look at it as a left over from the Colonial Office and see no sense in us continuing the charade.
Every time I witness an Independence Parade where the military might of the Republic is on show I chuckle to myself and ask 'is this for real?' Our biggest celebration for our Independence from Britain is a march past of backhoes and refrigerated trucks because simply put, we do not have any military might. Surely our Independence celebration should be one of the people.
The issue of the Office of the President needs to be looked at very carefully. In our new contract with the people all persons holding office in this country need to be elected. We cannot have two elected leaders doing the same thing.
Decide, President, PM, the Grand Pooba, I really do not care what the Head of State and the person running the country is called. As long as we do not have two persons doing it.
Bye!
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