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TT not a ‘lay-up’ location, 51 derelict vessels for removal
With immediate effect Trinidad and Tobago, which now harbours in the Gulf of Paria some 51 derelict vessels, will stop being a “lay-up location” for foreign and local ocean going vessels, according to Transport Minister Stephen Cadiz.
Speaking with reporters at a joint press conference he hosted yesterday with Minister of the Environment and Water Resources, Ganga Singh, at the Ministry of Transport, Tower D, Port-of- Spain Cadiz said “that will stop from today.”
He continued, “We will not allow a vessel to park here hoping for either a contract down the road, or hoping to do something with it. You will have to go somewhere else.”
The Gulf of Paria is out of the hurricane belt, and is known as the safest harbour in the Western Hemisphere, he said.
Cadiz and Singh spoke with the media after they met with other stakeholders from the Environmental Management Agency, Maritime Services Division (MSD), Ships Pilots’ Association, and the Ministry of Energy and Energy Affairs.
Of the 51 derelict vessels which the MSD have identified in the Chaguaramas/Carenage area, Port of Port-of-Spain, Claxton Bay and San Fernando, and one in Cedros, Cadiz said that half of their owners have been identified.
The vessels are either floating, but abandoned, or sunken and pose navigational and environmental problems, the ministers noted.
Most of the vessels grouped as “tide vessels” and found mainly at Chaguaramas, are locally owned.
In clearing the derelicts, Cadiz said the MSD will serve notice on the owners to remove them failing which, it will take action under the Shipping Act to remove them. Notice will also be placed for owners of those not identifiable, and if within 60 days there is no response the State will take action to remove them.
Government, he said just cannot at the drop of a hat take action without the proper process, as issues of ownership and rights to go aboard, rights to salvage among other rights, exist.
Prior to the removal of the vessels, Singh said that with information provided by the MSD on the owners of the vessels, the EMA will conduct environmental impact assessments (EIAs) on the contents of the vessels.
Source: News Day
Speaking with reporters at a joint press conference he hosted yesterday with Minister of the Environment and Water Resources, Ganga Singh, at the Ministry of Transport, Tower D, Port-of- Spain Cadiz said “that will stop from today.”
He continued, “We will not allow a vessel to park here hoping for either a contract down the road, or hoping to do something with it. You will have to go somewhere else.”
The Gulf of Paria is out of the hurricane belt, and is known as the safest harbour in the Western Hemisphere, he said.
Cadiz and Singh spoke with the media after they met with other stakeholders from the Environmental Management Agency, Maritime Services Division (MSD), Ships Pilots’ Association, and the Ministry of Energy and Energy Affairs.
Of the 51 derelict vessels which the MSD have identified in the Chaguaramas/Carenage area, Port of Port-of-Spain, Claxton Bay and San Fernando, and one in Cedros, Cadiz said that half of their owners have been identified.
The vessels are either floating, but abandoned, or sunken and pose navigational and environmental problems, the ministers noted.
Most of the vessels grouped as “tide vessels” and found mainly at Chaguaramas, are locally owned.
In clearing the derelicts, Cadiz said the MSD will serve notice on the owners to remove them failing which, it will take action under the Shipping Act to remove them. Notice will also be placed for owners of those not identifiable, and if within 60 days there is no response the State will take action to remove them.
Government, he said just cannot at the drop of a hat take action without the proper process, as issues of ownership and rights to go aboard, rights to salvage among other rights, exist.
Prior to the removal of the vessels, Singh said that with information provided by the MSD on the owners of the vessels, the EMA will conduct environmental impact assessments (EIAs) on the contents of the vessels.
Source: News Day
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