Cruise Lines at war with BVI Ports Authority over safe berthing issues!
It was last week that Disney Cruise Line representative Russell Daya and Norwegian Andrew Duckworth visited the Virgin Islands and had updated discussions with the BVI Ports Authority, the project managers and others associated with the BVI Ports Development Project.
According to this newsroom’s BVI Ports Authority sources close to the project, both cruise lines have raised serious safety issues because of the lack of mooring dolphins on the project for berthing of their vessels.
Mooring dolphins are usually installed to provide fixed structure when it would be impractical to extend the shore to provide dry access facility; for example when ships or the numbers of ships expected are greater than the length of the berth/pier.
It is believed because of this safety issue raised yet again by the cruise lines, it could also lead to the ships being unwilling to come to the Virgin Islands if the matter is not addressed.
It was reported that the BVI Ports Authority believes there are enough mooring dolphins for berthing and mooring of vessels; however, the two cruise lines strongly disagree and the matter remains at a stalemate.
Safety a big issue for cruise lines
While at the meeting of last week, according to BVI Ports Authority sources close to the project, Disney’s Russell Daya made it clear that there is still the issue with safe berthing of the ships, and that a berthing analysis was done and requirements and specification were recommend, but the issues were still not addressed.
Mr Daya warned the project managers and the BVI Ports Authority that the cruise liners who have agreed to come to the Virgin Islands after the project is completed would not want to face the issues of wind restriction while having to berth at the new port.
The Disney Cruise Line representative also told the local authority that he noticed the “Bollards that are upland are left in as flower pots and need to be clearly mark so that liability can be minimised.”
It remains unclear when the matter will be addressed and who will pay for it or the cost of the extra mooring dolphins for berthing being demanded by the cruise liners.
It is also unknown if the BVI Ports Authority disagreeing to the demand of the cruise liners would put the cruise line berthing agreement in jeopardy.
It’s also important to note that all disputes in the berthing agreement can only be settled in the USA and the Virgin Islands legal system has no standing on the controversial agreement signed a few years ago.
Contacted today January 29, 2015, Public Relations Officer for the BVI Ports Authority April T. Glasgow said that she was not aware of the issue but will be making inquiries about it from the appropriate personnel and get back to us.
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