Drifting tug and barge hit harbour bridge

A tug and barge hit the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) early yesterday morning, causing extensive damage requiring millions in repairs and disrupting travel between the West and East Demerara.

The tug, a Panamanian vessel, apparently drifted from Grove/Diamond on the East Bank Demerara and its crew belatedly issued a distress call. With the resulting damage disrupting vehicular traffic across the bridge, thousands of commuters were forced to make use of speedboats to get across the river for work and school and the operating hours of the craft were extended.

General Manager of the Demerara Harbour Bridge Company Rawlston Adams told a midday news conference that the collision occurred around 12.35am, when the tug and barge came into contact with the southern side of the bridge.

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The barge, said to be loaded with bauxite, came into contact with the bridge at span 12-13 and at span 16, Adams said, while noting that the bridge was completely out of alignment between the high span and retractor span as a result. Marine traffic therefore had to be suspended, he added. “The reason we have had to suspend all marine transit is because of the fact that you see the bridge is out of line and for the retractor span to close it has to be in line so we cannot take the chance to open the retractor span,” he explained.

When speaking about the works that would have been undertaken, Adams said that yesterday morning they were able to replace the connecting post at span 13, so that they would have been able to get the relevant equipment across to facilitate repairs at span 16. However, works had to be suspended around midday yesterday due to the tide. “Total end posts to be changed, nine, anchor chains to be replaced, nine. Most of the anchor chains [are] on the left side, which is the south side, so once the tide would have changed we expect to reconnect at least four,” he noted.

While Adams did not want to give a specific cost for the repairs as assessments were still ongoing, he observed, “The connecting posts alone would be over five million dollars, the anchor chains that would be probably another four, five million dollars and that’s only what were able to assess right now.”

While a 5 am retraction was scheduled yesterday, the tug was not scheduled to cross at that retraction.

According to Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson, members of the vessel’s crew, comprising Cuban and Panamanian nationals who did not speak English, were detained by the police and were taken into the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for questioning. The minister stated that according to preliminary reports from the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD), it is suspected that the barge was outside of its anchorage point and that it was not properly manned. “Apparently it’s a Panamanian vessel and they actually issued a mayday… while they were coming, they issued a mayday very late but apparently it was drifting from about Grove/Diamond according to MARAD,” the minister said.

The minister stated that while the investigations were still ongoing, he would not have been able to say where the boat was coming from or if the crew members were given breathalyser tests.

Patterson told the press conference that as part of temporary measures put in place, the water taxi services would be allowed to operate until 10 pm last night. He added that MARAD would have also provided emergency vessels for the period between 10 pm  and 6 am this morning.

While he was unsure about the length of time that they would suspend marine traffic, he stated that he would have suggested a three-day period and added that they may have to put measures in place in emergency cases and ask that companies delay transit if there were no such cases.

Patterson stated that while the works were ongoing, it was their hope to reopen the bridge to light traffic later last night.

“It is not possible for us to put out a ferry vessel. People have been asking why not reactivate the Vreed-en-Hoop-Stabroek ferry. The condition of the stelling on both sides cannot accommodate the restarting of the ferry vessel, so that’s not possible,” he added.

Yesterday afternoon, just as rush hour began, there was chaos at the Stabroek stelling as a number of children were making their way home from the first day of the new school term along with persons making their way home from work.

For commuters making their way to the stelling, one entrance was left open to facilitate the orderly flow of persons heading to the boats while the other was used as an exit point for those commuters who had just arrived at Georgetown. A number of police officers, city constabulary officers and MARAD officers were present.

One woman, who was visibly frustrated, was overheard saying that she regretted coming to Georgetown and thought that the bridge would have been fixed already. At that time, nurses, teachers and parents who were accompanied by multiple children were given a chance to access the stelling through the exit point so as to gain faster access to boats.

While the minister at the press conference said that provisions would be made for boats to operate up to 10 pm on Monday, as night fell commuters were directed to the MARAD port at Stabroek to make their way to boats which were equipped with lights. One young man, Akeem (only name given), who was making his way home from the first day at University of Guyana, told Stabroek News that it was a very stressful situation. “This is a lot of stress. They ain’t got nuff people heh now but this morning it was hell to cross the river and get to town. I does usually catch bus to come down, so I hope everything gon’ fix by tomorrow (today).” he said.

A woman, who was making her way home from work, stated that she was grateful the operation time for the boats was extended. “I was there at work looking on Facebook to see what woulda happened because I usually get off work late and I don’t know what I woulda do if I didn’t see they say boat going up to 10,” said Tiffany (only name given).

Later on Monday afternoon, persons were allowed to walk across the harbour bridge. The situation at the Vreed-en-Hoop stelling at that time was hectic, with the enormous in flow of passengers. A large police presence was also noticed as a road block was created at the junction to prevent drivers from going too close to the stelling area.