Exclusive: Bajan firm behind ferry service gets two ships

The company behind the long-anticipated regional ferry service has finally secured two new vessels suitable to start the inter-island service later this year, Barbados TODAY can reveal exclusively.

This, after no fewer than three missed deadlines and nearly one-and-a-half years in the waiting, due partly to major challenges finding boats compatible with sailing the Caribbean waters, according to a senior company official. 

Still, no tentative date of the inauguration of the service has been announced, and an economist with strong ties to the aviation industry continued to pour cold water on the venture.

Shaka Jones, a senior executive of Connect Caribe – a subsidiary of Barbadian maritime company Pleion Group Inc. – said on Tuesday, the company has now secured the two vessels with which it will finally start the service.

A launch date will be announced shortly, she added.

Finding vessels suitable to sail the Caribbean Sea with passengers and cargo was one of the main contributing factors for the delay, Jones explained.

She told Barbados TODAY: “We are still pursuing the service. Obviously, it is not something easy to implement; so, there are many things that we would have had to handle, go through, navigate. I can’t give you a definitive start date as yet, but we are definitely looking to start this year.

“Our objective is still to be able to move goods and people throughout the Caribbean. That’s our main goal and focus; that’s still our main goal and focus.” 

Jones then turned her attention to the matter of the vessels to be pressed into service:

“There are many different vessels that we are looking at. Finding a vessel that is suitable for Caribbean waters is not the easiest thing to do, but we do have options for the vessels. We are looking to start the service with two vessels…they are secured.”

However, economist Jeremy Stephen, who last year expressed serious doubt about the viability of the service that would connect Barbados and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, is sticking to his guns.

On Tuesday, Stephen, a pilot who flies his own aircraft on intraregional charters, was adamant that the undertaking would not work, referring to the multiple delays as a red flag.

Stephen told Barbados TODAY: “You notice that they haven’t been making their deadlines. So, that is one thing. I don’t know; I would have to see what they are coming around with. I just don’t think it is feasible regardless, unless they  are looking to spend way more money in airfoils, and the type of boats that rise high above swells, because half the year it would be untenable for the modern Bajan traveler to take it. 

“Just based on what I see when I go out there, it is not easy, especially coming back to Barbados. So, unless they are really investing in the types of modern boats that rise with speed well above swells, half the year, especially during the earlier part of the tourism season, and definitely the summer months…the rainy season months…it wouldn’t be tenable, it wouldn’t be comfortable at all. It would be good for cargo, if they want to focus on cargo; but otherwise, I just don’t see it being tenable, given the distance and given the [sea] swells I see out there. That is the truth.”

Initially, the company said sailings would begin in November 2024.

But at a press conference on May 13 of that year, Pleion Group CEO Dr Andre Thomas said that timeline was “accelerated” through two partnerships. The ferry was then scheduled to start sailings in August 2024, but this did not happen.

The new date was then rescheduled to the first quarter of last year – unsuccessfully – with the very latest now being later this year.

The company has said that as a key result of stakeholder engagement, it was adding the US Virgin Islands to its business model.

“The region plays a critical role in trade between the US and the Caribbean. Through the public-private partnership agreement with the Governor of the USVI, (we) have committed to establishing a maritime logistics hub that will efficiently redistribute this trade across the Caribbean, while also facilitating faster and more affordable access for Caribbean products entering US markets,” an earlier statement said.

“This will ensure sustainability by “guaranteeing full container loads – essential for the long-term success of any private-sector venture.”

It said this would include three vessels – an 800-passenger cruise ship, a 400-passenger fast ferry and a dedicated cargo vessel.

This, after no fewer than three missed deadlines and nearly one-and-a-half years in the waiting, due partly to major challenges finding boats compatible with sailing the Caribbean waters, according to a senior company official. 

Still, no tentative date of the inauguration of the service has been announced, and an economist with strong ties to the aviation industry continued to pour cold water on the venture.

Shaka Jones, a senior executive of Connect Caribe – a subsidiary of Barbadian maritime company Pleion Group Inc. – said on Tuesday, the company has now secured the two vessels with which it will finally start the service.

A launch date will be announced shortly, she added.

Finding vessels suitable to sail the Caribbean Sea with passengers and cargo was one of the main contributing factors for the delay, Jones explained.

She told Barbados TODAY: “We are still pursuing the service. Obviously, it is not something easy to implement; so, there are many things that we would have had to handle, go through, navigate. I can’t give you a definitive start date as yet, but we are definitely looking to start this year.

“Our objective is still to be able to move goods and people throughout the Caribbean. That’s our main goal and focus; that’s still our main goal and focus.” 

Jones then turned her attention to the matter of the vessels to be pressed into service:

“There are many different vessels that we are looking at. Finding a vessel that is suitable for Caribbean waters is not the easiest thing to do, but we do have options for the vessels. We are looking to start the service with two vessels…they are secured.”

However, economist Jeremy Stephen, who last year expressed serious doubt about the viability of the service that would connect Barbados and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, is sticking to his guns.

On Tuesday, Stephen, a pilot who flies his own aircraft on intraregional charters, was adamant that the undertaking would not work, referring to the multiple delays as a red flag.

Stephen told Barbados TODAY: “You notice that they haven’t been making their deadlines. So, that is one thing. I don’t know; I would have to see what they are coming around with. I just don’t think it is feasible regardless, unless they  are looking to spend way more money in airfoils, and the type of boats that rise high above swells, because half the year it would be untenable for the modern Bajan traveler to take it. 

“Just based on what I see when I go out there, it is not easy, especially coming back to Barbados. So, unless they are really investing in the types of modern boats that rise with speed well above swells, half the year, especially during the earlier part of the tourism season, and definitely the summer months…the rainy season months…it wouldn’t be tenable, it wouldn’t be comfortable at all. It would be good for cargo, if they want to focus on cargo; but otherwise, I just don’t see it being tenable, given the distance and given the [sea] swells I see out there. That is the truth.”

Initially, the company said sailings would begin in November 2024.

But at a press conference on May 13 of that year, Pleion Group CEO Dr Andre Thomas said that timeline was “accelerated” through two partnerships. The ferry was then scheduled to start sailings in August 2024, but this did not happen.

The new date was then rescheduled to the first quarter of last year – unsuccessfully – with the very latest now being later this year.

The company has said that as a key result of stakeholder engagement, it was adding the US Virgin Islands to its business model.

“The region plays a critical role in trade between the US and the Caribbean. Through the public-private partnership agreement with the Governor of the USVI, (we) have committed to establishing a maritime logistics hub that will efficiently redistribute this trade across the Caribbean, while also facilitating faster and more affordable access for Caribbean products entering US markets,” an earlier statement said.

“This will ensure sustainability by “guaranteeing full container loads – essential for the long-term success of any private-sector venture.”

It said this would include three vessels – an 800-passenger cruise ship, a 400-passenger fast ferry and a dedicated cargo vessel.