Public Works Minister Juan Edghill has said the Indian vessel MV MA Lisha is expected to arrive in Port Georgetown in February. His announcement was made in an interview with the Department of Public Information (DPI) on Wednesday.
“Sometime in February, that vessel should be arriving in Port Georgetown, and that will be big for us in 2023. As I speak to you right now, we have three persons in India waiting for the boat to sail from Kolkata to Chennai, where it will join a submersible vessel and will be floating down to Port of Spain, and then the boat will sail from Port of Spain to Georgetown,” he said.
The new $2.5b (US$12.7M) vessel MV MA Lisha — taken from the native Warrau language, this word means “friendship” — is being funded by the Government of India, and will ply the Georgetown-North West District (Barima-Waini) route. Being built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited, this ferry would incorporate special features to mitigate challenges faced by travellers.
It has a passenger capacity of 294, which means the boat can carry 276 revenue-paying passengers and 18 crew members. It also can carry 14 sedan-type vehicles, along with two trucks. Business people and others who ship produce from and into the interior would now be able to use containers of 10ft X 10ft dimension, since the vessel can carry 10 such containers.
The issue of spoilage would be significantly reduced, or eliminated, since the boat also has a refrigerated cargo capacity and cold room storage that would accommodate 43.98 cubic metres of merchandise.
The front of the vessel has a roll on-roll off facility which would enable it to discharge and board cargo at its port immediately without the use of a stelling. It also has a side boarding capacity.
To this end, there would be significant upgrades to the Kingston stelling, owned by the Transport and Harbours Department, to facilitate the new vessel. Works on the Port Kaituma, Mabaruma and Morawhanna stellings are also being executed.
Meanwhile, captains and mechanical staff from the Transport and Harbours Department, who were sent to India for training, have returned and are awaiting the arrival of the vessel to train other staff.
