Latest update April 24th, 2024 12:59 AM
Oct 16, 2022 News
Kaieteur News – Private River Pilots will no longer be allowed to captain any marine vessel through the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB), if a Pilot attached to the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) is not on board.
This is according to a Press Statement issued recently by MARAD.
MARAD noted, “To all ship owners, masters, operators and agents, please be advised that, with immediate effect, every foreign-flagged vessel and every Guyana-flagged vessel engaged in international trade, which will be transiting the Demerara Harbour Bridge is required to have a MARAD Pilot on board.”
MARAD advised too that if such vessels need to book one of its Pilots, it can do so by contacting the Georgetown Lighthouse on telephone numbers: 226-9871, 226-9970, 623-4933 or via email [email protected].
Private River Pilots would normally be hired via an agency to captain the foreign-vessels into Guyana because they are more familiar with channels of the local rivers.
However, the decision to stop Private River Pilots from captaining vessels into the country came after a Panamanian-flagged oil tanker, MV Tradewinds Passion, crashed into the DHB on Saturday, October 8, last.
The oil tanker was at the time being captained by a Private River Pilot and the damage the accident caused made the bridge inoperable for almost 72 hours.
He was identified as one of the five Private River Pilots who presently operate in Guyana and has been suspended since the bridge accident. The relevant authorities have since hinted that most likely he will be banned from ever captaining another vessel in Guyana waters.
The accident also left a DHB staffer, Andy Duke, severely injured. Duke had to undergo surgery to fix a fractured leg – an injury he sustained while trying to save himself when the vessel crashed into the bridge.
Duke was in a tower on the bridge when the accident occurred. He was at the time overseeing a scheduled retraction where five vessels were transiting through the bridge.
According to Duke, the oil tanker was the last to pass through from north to south but as it was about to do so, he noticed that it was in the wrong channel. The DHB staffer recounted that he had called the crew onboard the vessel via radio, ordering them to “stop and turn around” but the oil tanker kept coming.
At the last moment he was forced to jump from his tower to save himself as the vessel collided with the bridge.
The aftermath was severe and the damage the bridge sustained was described as never before seen by its engineers.
At a Press Conference, Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar told reporters that it was the second time in a month that a marine vessel had crashed into the DHB.
In order to avoid such disastrous recurrence, Indar had recommended that some changes in the system be made – such recommendation was the barring of Private River Pilots from captaining vessels through the Demerara Harbour Bridge.
Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill had noted that it would be a legal challenge but his ministry was “ready to bite the bullet” to make it happen.
Some eight days later, MARAD made it official that vessels transiting the DHB must have one of its Pilots on board.
There are some 15 Ship Pilots presently contracted with MARAD.
Meanwhile, a Board of Inquiry (BoI) set up to investigate the accident has completed its investigation and has submitted its report to Minister Edghill. The findings of that report, this publication was told, will soon be released to the media.
So far the Government has spent $1B to repair the bridge and Edghill has made it clear that the owners of the oil tanker which remains in custody, will foot that bill.
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