Tobago News.

[Deeks]

I hope while on the way to TT, it do not make a detour to pick up any foreign substances. I still think this a lot of bullshit. They should develop Toco. widen the friggin road. Build a port in Toco. All the money spent on them boat could have been used for that. From Scarboro to Toco is how much friggin miles.

[maxg]

After such a long trip, ah lil R&R in order, that an a lil opposite sex boat, might make ah baby boat that may work our channel. On a serious note, we need to build and maintain our own ships, hire some ship builders to teach, we have engineers, we have  welders, we have people.. dare we only capable of making pans ? Do we build and make stuff other than pepper sauce - yeah, yeah, is borse . We richer, yet we poorer. We modern, yet we ancient. We capable and fit, yet inefficient . What really is TT story.
Ah Ukraine crew on a Chinese boat, maintenance in Cuba. Ok.
Who operates the boat locally, who maintains, ah Nordic crew ? .. since this one getting about 20,000 between T&T trips out it system putt-putting round the Caribbean, by the time we actually make ah nudda 10000 between T&T, we go just buy another one ?

[maxg]

Putt Putt Putt Putt Putt
http://www.looptt.com/content/govt-takes-decision-bring-galleons-passage-tt-immediately

then Sput Sput Sputt Sputte Sputter.., when probably hear then about a misunderstood clause in the contract..Good Luck T &T

[maxg]

 

https://newsday.co.tt/2018/09/02/galleons-fails-to-dock-bow-on/

[maxg]

After such a long trip, ah lil R&R in order, that an a lil opposite sex boat, might make ah baby boat that may work our channel. On a serious note, we need to build and maintain our own ships, hire some ship builders to teach, we have engineers, we have  welders, we have people.. dare we only capable of making pans ? Do we build and make stuff other than pepper sauce - yeah, yeah, is borse . We richer, yet we poorer. We modern, yet we ancient. We capable and fit, yet inefficient . What really is TT story.
Ah Ukraine crew on a Chinese boat, maintenance in Cuba. Ok.
Who operates the boat locally, who maintains, ah Nordic crew ? .. since this one getting about 20,000 between T&T trips out it system putt-putting round the Caribbean, by the time we actually make ah nudda 10000 between T&T, we go just buy another one ?

Purchase and all that running around the world..and now we doing test ?

 Galleons makes 2nd run to Tobago
Kinnesha George

Herbert George, chairman of the National Infrastructure Development Company (NIDCO) is convinced that there is still some fine-tuning to be done before the Galleons Passage is put into service.

Yesterday, NIDCO officials sailed aboard the vessel to Tobago in what was considered its second test run to the island. The vessel departed Port of Spain at 7.41 am and arrived in Scarborough at 11.46 am.

For close to 45 minutes, the team aboard the vessel remained on the inside as Sunday Newsday observed officials attempting to get the ramp to line up with the ramp at the port compound.

Speaking with Sunday Newsday as he disembarked, George described the trial run was a success.

“I’m quite comfortable… as far as the vessel everything is fine.

“The ramp though, we have some tweaking to do to make it fit for all seasons; be it high tide or low tide, so we would be doing that in the next week and hopefully during that time we would be getting the necessary certificates and so from the Marine Services Department to be able to sail the vessel with passengers,” he said.

George said, as far as the mechanical functioning of the vessel, there were no problems as it was a smooth sailing to Tobago.

“We have some tweaking to do. As far as this ramp is concerned, we are going to make it wider so that the vessel can berth there much easier than it did today. Although today was a learning experience, I think we can make some adjustments and have it much easier,” he said. Members of the media were then invited inside for a tour of the vessel. Upon entering the vehicle ramp, George indicated that there were plans to install a canopy in that section, so as to prevent the sea spray from coming in onto the vehicles.

“The seller is responsible for that installation, he has had a lot of difficulties to get a vendor to do that work for him, he has gotten someone from Canada, they came and took the measurements and they have gone to fabricate the canopy to install it. They said the next three or so weeks, they would come with the material to have it installed,” he said.

George noted, however, that the installation would not delay the sailing of the vessel on the inter-island route.

As the team proceeded to the top deck, George said that the vessel would accommodate approximately 475 passengers in the first instance as the sun deck would not be used. He said NIDCO would continue to own and maintain the vessel, while it would be wet leased to the Port Authority.

George also touched on maintenance. “NIDCO has some capacity to maintain vessels, we have been doing that with the water taxis, but we recognise that this is not merely enough. So as part of the arrangement, we went out and we got an electrical engineer, a mechanical engineer and another kind of a maintenance manager to come in and he would set up the structure to maintain not only this one but all the vessels under NIDCO’s purview.”

[Deeks]

So as part of the arrangement, we went out and we got an electrical engineer, a mechanical engineer and another kind of a maintenance manager to come in and he would set up the structure to maintain not only this one but all the vessels under NIDCO’s purview.”

It hard to be believe a country like TT don't have them kind of engineers.

[maxg]

So as part of the arrangement, we went out and we got an electrical engineer, a mechanical engineer and another kind of a maintenance manager to come in and he would set up the structure to maintain not only this one but all the vessels under NIDCO’s purview.”

It hard to be believe a country like TT don't have them kind of engineers.

Worse...engineer hardly do hands on these days, they mostly design and advise, so we have to go out and get some marine craft technichians as well. We couldn't go out and get One Marine engineer and hire enough young local technicians, that they will learn and develop along with the boats (old and new). Wait, I feel it have more expenses to come, irregardless of the new boat. Maybe they should go out and get a  Marine accountant...no, wait, he might ketch we putting we hands in the till...best get a local padna to do that, oui 
 

[maxg]

 


Duke: My pirogue will beat Galleons Passage ferry
Sean Douglas (Newsday)



WATSON DUKE will race a pirogue from Tobago to Trinidad to prove it can beat the ferry Galleons Passage, he vowed at a briefing yesterday.

The Public Services Association (PSA) leader was joined by maritime attorney Nyree Alfonso and dockers' unionist Michael Annisette.

In the wake of his famous partial swim from Tobago to Trinidad, Duke said in the ferry’s first week of service, he will travel by pirogue, change his clothes, then host a news briefing.

“We’ll show that a pirogue can travel the same route and reach faster than the Galleons Passage.”

Duke dubbed the ferry “a slow boat” travelling at 11 knots and taking six hours, slower than the current ferries Spirit and Express, which reach 30 knots and take 3.5 hours. He scoffed that rather than the buy the Galleons Passage, the Government should have spent those millions of dollars to buy pirogues for Tobagonians to travel to Trinidad.

Duke alleged the Government had changed its tune on the Galleons Passage’s specs: it was originally said to take 700 passengers and 100 cars, but now said to take just 400 passengers and no cars.

He alleged that for political reasons the Government had raced the boat to Tobago at a dangerously high speed of 22 knots, to do the trip in 4.5 hours.

Saying Tobagonians are not happy with the Tobago-born Prime Minister, Duke said, “You’ll get a surprise licking come 2020, because this (issue) is not going away.”

Alfonso scoffed at the government’s litigation against her as an effort to muzzle her that is doomed to fail and would in fact make her a wealthy attorney.

She alleged thee had no proper procurement of ferries in recent times, and alleged the Cabo Star should have been leased for about US$12,000 per day, but TT was overpaying this cost by US$10,000. She found it astounding Dr Rowley could just walk into a shipyard in Australia and start ordering ferries, as she challenged his maritime expertise to do so and whether he had first consulted local ferry users.

Alfonso also lamented that vessels from both shipbuilders Incat and Austal will be ordered, as this would incur two different sets of spare parts and technicians.

She asked which TT expert had visited China to okay the Galleons Passage as suitable for here. Alleging unsuitability for heavy seas, she said Austal vessels work in seas with a sea scale of five, but TT waters are sea scale six.

Alfonso said all six Coast Guard vessels bought by this government are now down.

She alleged TT is paying much more to lease its water taxis than Martinique and Guadeloupe paid for similar boats . Saying the Prime Minister had spoken of corruption around the Cabo Star and Ocean Flower II, she asked what had been done about this.

“One manager went to Panama and said, ‘This boat is not suitable,’ and he was fired for his candour.”

Alfonso accused the government of ignoring the need for the right specs for the new ferry but just rushing to get one before the next general election.

[maxg]

more test necessary, send it back to China, via Cuba, via Panama canal..etc..etc..Tobago to damn far..Lawd..I know it was coming, but sonner than later smh

http://guardian.co.tt/news/galleons-passage-6.2.730837.dae32d134c

[Flex]

Sandals’ pullout could be positive.
By Loyse Vin­cent (Guardian).

An ex­pert in tourism in­tel­li­gence and de­vel­op­ment says the failed San­dals deal can be an op­por­tu­ni­ty to change this coun­try’s ap­proach to tourism.

Dr Au­liana Poon, Man­ag­ing Di­rec­tor of Tourism In­tel­li­gence In­ter­na­tion­al, a lead­ing in­ter­na­tion­al con­sul­tan­cy that has been op­er­at­ing for more than 25 years, said To­ba­go’s tourism stake­hold­ers must let the world know “the is­land is open for busi­ness, but per­haps not open to San­dals busi­ness and not in that for­mat.”

Tourism In­tel­li­gence In­ter­na­tion­al re­cent­ly beat more than 20 com­peti­tors to land the con­tract to de­vel­op Do­mini­ca’s Na­tion­al Tourism Pol­i­cy and Tourism Mas­ter Plan. The com­pa­ny con­tributed to the de­vel­op­ment of more than 100 des­ti­na­tions, in­clud­ing Abu Dhabi, An­tigua and Bar­bu­da, Aus­tralia, the Ba­hamas, Bar­ba­dos, Benin, Den­mark, Fin­land, Ger­many, Greece and Hong Kong.

“When San­dals talks about the neg­a­tive press for some peo­ple its neg­a­tive press, but the in­de­pen­dent trav­eller is hap­py that an in­de­pen­dent des­ti­na­tion is con­cerned about its en­vi­ron­ment . . . (and) wants to have trans­paren­cy,” Poon said.

She said such trav­ellers “would love to come to a coun­try where peo­ple have a voice and have a say. So I say it’s( ex­treme­ly pos­i­tive de­pend­ing on how you look at it.”

Poon, who runs Vil­la Be­ing, a high-end tourism re­sort in To­ba­go, said of the 1.5 bil­lion trav­ellers glob­al­ly, on­ly two per cent trav­el to the Caribbean. If the des­ti­na­tion could at­tract 100,000 of the 1.5 bil­lion peo­ple who are more con­scious and ed­u­cat­ed, those trav­ellers would be in­ter­est­ed that To­ba­go is con­cerned about the en­vi­ron­ment, she said.

She al­so said To­ba­go might not have been ready for a project of the mag­ni­tude pro­posed by the Gov­ern­ment and San­dals.

“We need to re­think the strat­e­gy of just build­ing the stuff and let­ting some­body else come to man­age it. The re­al mon­ey is in the man­age­ment. Do we have the man­age­ment ca­pa­bil­i­ties to run it?” Poon asked.

She sug­gest­ed that the Caribbean send stu­dents to the top uni­ver­si­ties in Switzer­land to study ho­tel man­age­ment so that they can re­turn to man­age the is­lands’re­sources.

Ac­cord­ing to Poon, San­dals might not have been what To­ba­go need­ed at this point.

“Club Med in­vent­ed this hol­i­day where peo­ple de­scend­ed on this vil­lage for sun, sand, sea and sex and what have you but where is Club Med to­day? Club Med had its day,” she said.

“The point I’m mak­ing is San­dals had 30 to 40 years of fan­tas­tic growth and de­vel­op­ment. I’m ask­ing is this the end of the life cy­cle we jump­ing on to? Is it that To­ba­go is now try­ing to per­fect the pro­duc­tion of type­writ­ers when every­body wants a com­put­er? Is this the end of the line? Is this on­ly thing? What is com­ing af­ter that?”

[Flex]

Silent majority wanted Sandals
By Corey Connelly (Newsday).

Tobago advocacy group on resort pullout

Farmers and small entrepreneurs were among the groups of Tobagonians eager to welcome Sandals International to Tobago before the resort chain decided last month against constructing a deluxe hotel on the island.

So claimed Kelvon Morris, spokesman of the newly-formed advocacy group Citizens In Support of Tobago Development.

"You would be surprised to hear the number of people that actually had projects in train geared towards benefiting from the Sandals experience," Morris said in a Sunday Newsday interview.

"Farmers, people invested in hatchery preparing for it. It is interesting when you go on the ground, people were excited about some of the activities that would have come from Sandals."

Saying he was surprised by the number of people who were excited about the project, Morris said the Sandals pullout highlighted the fact that many Tobagonians were not vociferous in their support of the project but chose to remain silent.

"We recognise that that silence would have been one of the reasons why the naysayers' voices were heard. But if you do a survey around Tobago, the majority of Tobagonians really wanted the project."

Morris admitted, however, a comprehensive survey was not undertaken to determine the extent to which Tobagonians supported the project. He said feedback was gauged "on the ground."

So why did he feel Tobagonians choose to remain silent?

"Tobagonians are naturally paid back. We are very reserved and normally keep most of our thoughts to ourselves. So, you would hear things and say, 'Why are Tobagonians not riling up?'

"They would have a view but would prefer to keep it to themselves."

Asked, then, if this posture would have worked against them if Sandals did set up business on the island, Morris said: "Behaviour once repeated often enough, tends to be changed. So, with Sandals, which is service-oriented, it would have brought that culture to the entire scenario."

He claimed those in the agriculture sector were ready to "change their mentality" with a view to embracing modern technology in farming.

During a news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair, on January 15, Sandals Resort International CEO Gebhard Rainer said the company was no longer interested in constructing a hotel in Buccoo.

Rainer said the decision was prompted by "negative publicity" and "consistent badgering."

Sceptics also complained Government was not forthcoming in providing details about the project, especially in relation to its potential impact on the environment.

Morris, who works in the tourism sector, agreed negative publicity did play a part in the company's decision to sever ties with the project.

"When one wants to disrupt any kind of development, we know that the environment is the easiest claim and the voices that started to put up those kinds of challenges, with Sandals being an international, reputable brand, would not want to be tied up with that."

He added: "It was the posture of all those who were actually laying claim to challenging Sandals. I am sure they made a business decision that said they were not going to go through all that for a destination they hadn't been tried and tested in."

Morris said Citizens In Support of Tobago Development was essentially a response to the failure of Tobagonians to speak out about the benefits that could have been derived from a Sandals on the island.

"This (group) is really a clarion call to all that when there are positive developments on the island, that we all come out in support as early as possible so that we don't lose opportunities like that."

The group, comprising stakeholders from various sectors, includes former Tobago Chamber of Commerce president Demi John Cruickshank and others.

Morris said forging linkages with stakeholders was of paramount importance.

"One of the things we are looking to do going forward is really bringing together all of the stakeholders. We think that is important for the development of the island, so that when we speak about Tobago's development, we speak in one voice.

"Every institution that is integral to Tobago's development, so we would form alliances and have them involved in the discussion."

He said one of the group's priorities would be to hold discussions with youth-oriented organisations and other bodies "so that we can have a meshing of views and really have a clear synergy of where we want to go from here."

Saying Tobago has tremendous potential, Morris expressed confidence the island will bounce back from the Sandals pullout.

Morris said: "Tobago is an island destination with some of the best sites in the western hemisphere and it is just a matter for Tobagonians to be a little more open-minded to the kind of development required so we could move the tourism product forward."

"There is always an opportunity because people are always interested in the next best thing and Tobago provides that platform. In terms of direct foreign investment Tobago will always be attractive," he added.

During the launch of her Monday Mixer series at Milford Court, Bon Accord, Tobago West MP Shamfa Cudjoe declared she was "hard hit" by the Sandals withdrawal from the project, which would have elevated the island's profile as a tourist destination.

She said, however, there were several projects already on stream, geared toward boosting the island's tourist sector.

[soccerman]

We always have projects on stream that usually come to no avail. Sandals withdrawing is a big loss to our economy, it would've definitely increased our tourism profile and locals would've benefited. I've met a lot of people to claim they'll love to visit T&T but the reality is many of them had already been at Sandals in Jamaica or St. Lucia and I think their reputation and convenience for travelers has a lot to do with it.