No dangers in ferry service, says CEO

Barbadians have been assured that the vessels being used in the inter-island regional ferry service will be similar to the large overnight cruise ships that sail in much rougher waters than the Eastern Caribbean corridor.

In an interview with Barbados TODAY, Chief Executive Officer of the Pleion Group, Dr Andre Thomas, on Thursday dismissed suggestions that the ferry service would not work because the vessels could not make the journey across the Caribbean’s rough waters.

On Tuesday, economic aviation consultant Jeremy Stephen expressed serious doubt about the viability of the service that would connect Barbados and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, due to high swells and choppy waters.

However, Thomas who heads the Barbadian parent company of the executing firm Connect Caribe, slammed Stephen’s argument as lacking in scientific evidence, insisting that the ships which will be pressed into service are of a vessel class that is specifically engineered for long-distance, open-water, passenger, vehicle, and freight service.

He disclosed that Connect Caribe planned to use overnight cruise ferries of the same class as those used by several international companies, including DFDS on the North Sea (Newcastle–Amsterdam, Copenhagen–Oslo); P&O Ferries between Hull and Rotterdam and Brittany Ferries on long-haul routes such as Portsmouth–Caen and Portsmouth–Santander.

The chief executive said these large displacement vessels, typically 20 000 to 60 000+ gross tonnage, with deep drafts, active fin stabilisers, cabins, restaurants and full vehicle and freight decks, were engineered for open-water overnight service in conditions far more demanding than anything the Eastern Caribbean produces.

“The Eastern Caribbean Sea is by any objective measure, one of the calmer open-water ferry corridors in the world. The claim that it is ‘too choppy’ to support a viable ferry network does not survive a five-minute look at global maritime data. 

“Overnight cruise ferries – large, stable, purpose-built Ro-Pax vessels – operate daily, profitably, and year-round in waters that are two to five times rougher than anything typically seen between the islands of the Eastern Caribbean,” Thomas contended.

He also provided scientific data to support his point.

“According to NOAA’s National Hurricane Center offshore marine forecasts, significant wave heights across the Eastern Caribbean typically run between three and seven feet (roughly 1 to 2 metres). During stronger trade-wind pulses, seas build to five to eight feet (1.5 to 2.5 metres). 

“These are everyday operating conditions for a modern overnight cruise ferry – a vessel class that is specifically engineered for long-distance open-water passenger, vehicle, and freight service,” the CEO explained.

“The regional precedent is already in the water. L’Express des Îles (now FRS Express des Îles, owned by Germany’s FRS Group) has operated scheduled passenger service across this exact stretch of Eastern Caribbean: Guadeloupe, Les Saintes, Marie-Galante, Dominica, Martinique, and Saint Lucia for more than 37 years, carrying approximately 850 000 passengers per year. That establishes the passenger demand and sea-state tolerance of this corridor beyond any dispute.”

Thomas argued that the region lacked a large, stable overnight cruise ferry connecting more islands, carrying vehicles and freight, and turning inter-island travel into a product experience.

(EJ)