THE two new ferry vessels to be built by China and for which a US$14M deal was last week inked with the Chinese Government, will supplement  the current fleet  of three vessels currently operating in the Essequibo River. This is according to Minister of Transport & Hydraulics, Robeson Benn, who noted, it has increasingly shown that there is a huge demand for the vessels.
Minister Benn added that with the redeployment of the two vessels which plied the Berbice River to Essequibo, following the construction of the Berbice Bridge, it was first thought that the increased fleet would handle the demand.
However, even a twice-a-week Bartica run is showing increasing demand with clear evidence that the vessel there is working in a capacity-filled situation,” he noted.
“As you are all aware, even though we’ve had the building of the Berbice Bridge and we thought in fact that we had a redundancy, what the planners had envisaged has resulted in even the excess vessels which  we took over to the Essequibo being completely used up in terms of the capacity.
“And, we are simply not faced with a question of replacing the vessels immediately but a total improvement  in terms of capacity on the Essequibo passage,” he said.
The new vessels will be equipped with roll-on, roll-off features which would necessitate modifications to be done to the stelling at Parika and Adventure to allow for this feature.
A new stelling which was built at Supenaam to reduce the almost two hours travelling is not in use due to  problems with the ramp, but  Minister Benn, at the signing of the agreement, said efforts will be made to  have the modification done and the facility commissioned  ahead of the arrival of the two new vessels.
“ There are certain infrastructural works which are involved in making this project possible, the roll-on, roll-off stelling, and other infrastructural things which have to be put in place, all of which will be done within the next six to eight months,” he added.
The new vessels, upon their arrival, will allow for the freeing-up of other vessels being used to aid transport in other places, like the North West.
Meanwhile, a delegation representing truckers from the Essequibo Coast recently met with Minister Benn, in relation to a decision to cease all advance return booking.
THD General Manager, Khevin Trim, from whom the Guyana Chronicle sought an update, explained that at the time when a decision was taken to allow advance return booking, only four to five vessels from Adventure had needed such a special arrangement.
That number has since increased to about 15, hence the need to discontinue the arrangement, so as not to be seen as, facilitating one set of truckers at the expense of others, Trim pointed out.
This situation was explained to the truckers when they met Minister Benn; as such, the recent order that all trucks being transported aboard any of the ferry vessels will have to queue up, remains in force.
Trim also noted that as a result of the Christmas Season and the increased demand for T&HD transport from residents of  Baritca and nearby communities, the Bartica route  is being serviced  with three trips per week by the M.V. Makouria, and even this has proven to be inadequate.