Access Coordinator Vincent Hyppolyte says, barring unforeseen circumstances events totally beyond “their control,” there will be a ferry service for the coming Christmas Season.
A news release from the Mininistry of Communications and Works reminds, “Since the breakdown of Twin Islands Ferry Service Limited (TIFS) ferry the Fjortoft in August 2010, and the specialist engineers’ reports which confirmed its unavailability for the rest of this year, the island has been without a regular ferry service.”
The release also explains that “the Government of Montserrat has made several early attempts to contract suitable ferry services for the upcoming Christmas Season. Those attempts in some cases received initial favourable indications but later for unexplained reasons, the interests of those operators simply waned.”
Last weekend, a delegation headed by the Access Coordinator and accompanied by the Port Manager Shawn O’Garro travelled to Dominica and Guadeloupe for discussions with a prospective ferry operator and to inspect a ferry to assess its suitability and state of readiness for providing services to Montserrat for the Season.
GIU reports that according to Hyppolyte, “the ferry was found to be suitable and indications are that it will be ready to commence services to Montserrat for the Christmas Season by the end of the first week in December, subject to events totally beyond our control and best efforts.”
Work is also continuing to develop “an appropriate long term solution for the sustainability of sea access to Montserrat,” the statement concluded.
The discussions of ferry and sea access continues while informed sources say that it is now accepted that the injured ferry is in any case wrong for the job and that officials are quietly hoping they can source a 300-seater ferry very capable to handle a considerable haul of freight.
