Photo Caption: The MV Sea Hustler doing a daily run
Published By: Freedom FM
Thursday 16th, February, 2017
One of the passenger and cargo vessels plying their trade between St Kitts and Nevis says in a press release sent to the media on Tuesday, that it “will not be making any further trips between St Kitts and Nevis until further notice.”
The release adds “We were advised by the St Christopher Air & Sea Ports Authority that the police and securities forces will be called in to prevent the loading and unloading of Cargo at the Basseterre ferry terminal. We think this is a calculated attempt to drive the Sea Hustler out of business given that foreign vessels, more specifically boats with provisions from the Windward Islands, are allowed to offload and unload cargo at the ferry terminal”.
The Sea Hustler release attached pictures showing the Dominica boat offloading cargo at the ferry terminal on Monday February 13th, but queried why “a Nevis vendor cannot take cargo to the Sea Hustler to travel to Nevis”.
The Sea Hustler said it had tried to arrange a meeting with the Port Authority to Resolve this matter “however we have not received a response from them”.
On Thursday Freedom Fm contacted SCASPA for a response. We were referred to the Public Relations department who in turn referred us to the CEO Olivia Taylor who referred us to the division of Corporate affairs Marva Burroughs who had no comment but indicated that a press release was issued to the media on Tuesday by SCASPA on this matter.
The release reads: The Saint Christopher Air & Sea Ports Authority (SCASPA), in accordance with Section 61(e) of the St. Christopher Air & Sea Ports Authority Act, hereby informs the general public that all loading and unloading (handling) of commercial cargo at the Basseterre Ferry Terminal has been discontinued effective Monday February 6th, 2017. The recent increased volume of passenger traffic through the Basseterre Ferry Terminal and the heightened risk to our valued passengers due to the concurrent handling of commercial cargo has necessitated this action. All commercial cargo will therefore be handled at the Bird Rock Cargo Port which has the necessary infrastructure. All concerned are asked to be guided accordingly.
