00:00Amid mounting public concern over cargo delays, Works and Infrastructure Minister Jolene John visited the port of Port of Spain
00:07on Monday to assess operations linked to the cargo vessel Blue Wave Harmony.
00:12The minister met with senior officials of the Port Authority and the National Infrastructure Development Company to review cargo handling,
00:21turnaround times and storage capacity.
00:23Following the inspection, she put the question directly to the Port Authority's Chief Executive Officer.
00:30Where is the stored up cargo, the cargo that can't get to Tobago?
00:34So we have no stored cargo for Tobago. We cleared the yard with each operation and each ceiling. So there's
00:40currently no backlog. So we have trucks that are waiting to load at this time.
00:46The minister also said cargo continues to be transported on passenger vessels, adding that operations at the port remain fluid.
00:54Cargo is also transported by all of these passenger vessels. This takes all the bricks, all the better men, all
01:01the oxygen, the dangerous goods, the poetry and so on. This boat is a beast. It takes everything. As a
01:08matter of fact, this ramp that we are on is supposed to close at three o'clock today.
01:11But once vehicles come here, they take the vehicles. They take everything. They don't leave anything. And they are going
01:19to leave it down for me until nine to nine.
01:22John emphasized that the Blue Wave Harmony is still in its sea trial phase, a process required before full commercial
01:29operations begin. The vessel is expected to enter its commercial phase on March 1st.
01:34With the deadline quickly approaching, attention now turns to whether the vessel's full operations will bring consistency to the inter
01:43-island cargo service.
01:45Aksha Carlston, TV6 News.
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