ELIZ­A­BETH GON­ZA­LES

To­ba­go Cor­re­spon­dent

The Cabo Star is sched­uled to re­turn to Trinidad and To­ba­go on Ju­ly 31, but the Port Au­thor­i­ty has al­ready in­vit­ed bids for a new car­go ves­sel to ser­vice the in­ter-is­land sea bridge.

The ves­sel’s own­er, Bridge­mans Ser­vices Group, said yes­ter­day that the Cabo Star is cur­rent­ly un­der­go­ing dry dock re­pairs in Cu­raçao and will re­sume con­tract­ed ser­vices up­on its re­turn.

In an emailed re­sponse to ques­tions, Paul Sail, vice pres­i­dent of Cor­po­rate Ser­vices, told Guardian Me­dia:

“Bridge­mans con­firms that the ves­sel, MV Cabo Star, is cur­rent­ly un­der­tak­ing dry dock re­pairs in Cu­raçao and will be re­turn­ing to Trinidad and To­ba­go on Ju­ly 31 to re­sume con­tract­ed ser­vices.”

Yes­ter­day, the Trinidad and To­ba­go In­ter-Is­land Trans­porta­tion Com­pa­ny (TTIT) al­so is­sued a pub­lic up­date con­firm­ing the Cabo Star’s on­go­ing dry-dock­ing. TTIT said the ves­sel is ex­pect­ed back by Au­gust 3, with car­go op­er­a­tions sched­uled to re­sume on Au­gust 4, once lo­cal reg­u­la­to­ry ap­provals are in hand.

The Cabo Star was tak­en out of ser­vice on Ju­ly 12 for statu­to­ry main­te­nance and in­spec­tion to re­tain its clas­si­fi­ca­tion sta­tus.

Dur­ing its ab­sence, TTIT said the T&T Spir­it, Galleons Pas­sage, and MV Em­prende­do­ra have been de­ployed to main­tain car­go move­ment.

De­spite these in­ter­im arrange­ments and the Cabo Star’s ex­pect­ed re­turn with­in days, the Port Au­thor­i­ty of Trinidad and To­ba­go (PATT) is­sued a Re­quest for Pro­pos­al (RFP) for the “Pro­vi­sion of a Car­go Ves­sel for the In­ter-Is­land Sea Bridge.”

The RFP, dat­ed Ju­ly 10, gave in­ter­est­ed com­pa­nies un­til Ju­ly 25 to ex­press in­ter­est. Sealed bids are due by Sep­tem­ber 10 at 10am.

The no­tice does not spec­i­fy what type of ves­sel is be­ing sought or whether it is in­tend­ed to re­place or sup­port the Cabo Star. How­ev­er, it con­firms that on­ly com­pa­nies reg­is­tered with the Of­fice of Pro­cure­ment Reg­u­la­tion will be el­i­gi­ble for a con­tract award.

This lat­est call comes near­ly one year af­ter the Na­tion­al In­fra­struc­ture De­vel­op­ment Com­pa­ny Ltd (NID­CO) con­firmed it had re­ceived three bids to build a cus­tom car­go ves­sel for To­ba­go—a process trig­gered by fires on board the Cabo Star in 2023 and then again in 2024.

It re­mains un­clear whether this new ten­der by the Port Au­thor­i­ty is a con­tin­u­a­tion of that process—or a sep­a­rate pro­cure­ment ef­fort.

Ef­forts to get fur­ther de­tails from Min­is­ter of Trans­port Eli Za­k­our went unan­swered.

The Cabo Star’s con­tract is ex­pect­ed to end in ear­ly 2026.