Human error is being blamed for Thursday’s shut down of Tobago fast ferry the Buccoo Reef, the Tobago fast ferry. However, chairman of the National Infrastructure Development Company Limited (NIDCO) Herbert George said there are no concerns about the efficiency of the ferry.
The Buccoo Reef was back in service yesterday after it shut down in open water on Thursday and drifted for at least an hour before slowly limping to the Port-of-Spain, docking several hours behind schedule.
At the time, Chief Executive Officer of the T&T Inter-island Transportation Company Vilma Lewis-Cockburn said the vessel had experienced some technical difficulties on its sailing from Scarborough which resulted in a “delayed arrival into Port-of-Spain.” Another official said the matter was being addressed by the engineers on board.
George explained that the problem stemmed from a tank in the vessel where diesel is stored, known as a day tank, from where diesel is distributed to the engines. George said the tank holds enough diesel to operate the vessel for an hour. As the diesel goes down, new diesel must be pumped into the day tank to replace the spent diesel.
“However, the pumps to do that must be switched on and what happened on this occasion the chief engineer failed to switch on the pump, so when the vessel left Tobago, that pump was not switched on,” George said.
This caused the tank to empty, shutting down the Buccoo Reef.
“With a diesel engine, when that happens, the engines become airlocked. You can’t start it again at all unless you bleed all engines and remove all the air from it,” George continued.
He said the mechanics had to bleed the four engines one by one until the vessel could restart. The vessel, which should have docked at 7 pm, didn’t arrive in Port-of-Spain until 10 pm.
“As I said it is human error, the person involved was held accountable and he has been dealt with appropriately,” George assured.
Friday’s sailing from Port-of-Spain to Scarborough was delayed by two hours, leaving at 10am. At the port in Scarborough passengers said they weren’t too worried the vessel would shut down again.
Tobago resident Thelonia Thomas said she had planned a quick trip to Trinidad and was on both sailings of the Buccoo Reef.
“About an hour or so into the sailing the boat stopped,” she said. “They made an announcement that they had some technical difficulties were working on it.
She said wasn’t worried during the return trip.
“Initially I was concerned that they may have some challenges but the sailing went well and no problems at all,” Thomas said.
Another passenger, who only identified himself as Chris, said he was “just a little bit” nervous.
