With the cost of air travel continuing to soar, Grenada is floating a proposal to establish a new multimillion-dollar fast ferry service in the southern Caribbean – and its wants Barbados aboard.
The Keith Mitchell administration is counting on “investors and business partners” here and elsewhere in the region pumping “an initial” US$2.4 million to US$5 million into the “door-to-door” venture.
As currently proposed, however, Barbados is not favoured to be one of the three “hubs”, with Grenada, St Vincent and St Lucia the preferred destinations.
According to a January 2014 proposal document now in circulation, Grenada wants to establish the fast ferry for its own needs in addition servicing Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia, Dominica, Martinique and Guadeloupe.
“The purpose of the service is to meet the strong demand for an improvement in transportation, business and trade amongst the islands,” the proposal outlined.
“The total passenger traffic between the islands on an annual basis is in excess of 115 000 passengers per year. Currently, the daily travel between the territories exceeds 1 000 persons per day . . . . Studies indicate that these may be increased with the right pricing. For example, a 30 per cent price point below air travel could attract as much as four times the existing passenger traffic. That’s an increase of 400 per cent.”
The proposition is for two fast ferries, possibly with catamaran hulls, “with a passenger capacity of around 200 persons each and with the capacity to carry between five and 15 vehicles (passenger and vehicle ferries), along with some cargo for small traders”.
“Currently, traders and travellers rely upon an expensive airline service or an inconvenient break?bulk service from small cargo vessels. International sales of second?hand fast ferries vary in price between US$1.2 million and US$3.5 million. Ideally, an interested investor would be prepared to invest an initial amount of between US$2.4 million and US$5 million. Extensive studies have been undertaken to demonstrate the commercial viability of such a service and these studies can be made available to interested investors,” the project document stated.
“The government of Grenada is seeking interested investors and operators to invest in and operate or cooperate in partnership with others such a service beginning with Grenada serving as a hub for operations. Grenada is ideally located between two of the most prosperous territories in the Caribbean: Trinidad and Barbados.
“The service could begin with one ferry and expand to two ferries with hubs in Grenada, St Vincent and St Lucia. The Government of Grenada would be willing to discuss fuel bunkering service in support of the ferry operations”.
This is the latest in a series of proposals to establish a scheduled fast ferry service in this part of the region. Grenadian private entity BEDY Travel & Associates had announced plans to do so, but this is yet to materialise.
In January 2012 the Trinidad and Tobago government said a Barbados-based consortium called Fast Caribbean Ltd would be starting fast ferry service that same year, that it would be based in Trinidad, and it would service Grenada,
St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia and Barbados in its first phase. There were no subsequent statements on this.
