Heads of government of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) are seriously considering a fast ferry service that will serve all nine member states of the grouping.
On Saturday the 59th OECS Authority met in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and chairman of the group, prime minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, told a press conference on the weekend that a ferry service was discussed extensively.
“Heads of government instructed that a study be done on the most energy efficient and cost effective modality for fast ferry service including the involvement of the private sector,” Skerrit said.
He stated that the issue of transportation is a major challenge for the OECS.
“We all hear and speak about the issues relating to LIAT and regional travel, the transportation of agricultural produce among countries and between countries is something that continues to occupy the minds of all of us,” he noted. “And today we discussed this extensively and that decision was taken to continue exploring the issue of a fast ferry for the OECS.”
Skerrit described the meeting as successful and also pointed out that the OECS is considering the trimming down of the expenses of its operation.
“The heads of government welcomed the initiatives presented to enhance the efficiency in and reduce the cost of operation of the commission,” he stated. “As you know we all live in challenging and difficult times fiscally, and whatever measure we can take both at the local level and regional level to reduce on expenditure Heads are committed to doing so.”
He said a more detailed analysis on the matter is to be conducted and submitted to the meeting of the Authority scheduled for November 2014.
oecs people start thinking positive about the fast ferry movement it is getting as closer to each other.especially with goods&food stuff.Travelling will be cheaper than liat an have some spending money.BE POSITIVE.
The hurricane season starts in June and it ends in November of each year. This six month period includes summer travel, dive fest and Creole Music Festival. With rough seas and tropical depressions, I can envisage major travel disruptions due to bad weather.
Furthermore, the OECS share holder islands cannot manage LIAT and now they want to implement a fast ferry service. This will fail before it starts.
I wonder how dem animals going to present that on their show after dey give Lennox Linton so much blows.
Another cock and bull story. Already it is so much of a hassle to transit from plane to plane in the same airport , much less for us to have to travel from airport to seaport to board a boat to come home?
We are the only one in the OECS who does not have an international airport. Dominicans it is time ti wake up from your slumber .
This is another lame idea from the a man who has ran out of any sensible thoughts.
Call the elections now so Dominica can move to the new level with all the bright people who are in the waiting.
well skero this one i ain’t onboard with,st thomas and st croix had a fast ferry service, right now i am not sure what happened but it seem like it has been discontinued,people complained of being sick almost to death when the water is rough,so i could imagine being on a fast ferry going as to grenada wow, you go have to put doctors onboard
This man is just …..? He has not ideas of his own. His clock does not seem to go to to 12 at all.
The man keeps taking everything the United Workers Party say they will we when they get into office.
It’s more than time for this guy to get out of people’s parliament. I am just fed up with this.
One at a time Mr Skerrit. Finish the international airport first.
This is only suggestions. We had the two beautiful Ferry Federal MAPLE AND PALM remember,so take it easy it’s nice to talk
Check ..comments made proposing this by this writer on the issue surrounding the CARIBBEAN EXPRESS and Bellemare recently .
Clearly the integration movement has to borrow the idea of the FEDERAL PALM AND FEDERAL MAPLE a generation ago when people travelled low cost and the Caribbean people got to know each other .
The price of ticket by LIAT FROM ISLAND TO ISLAND IS SIMILAR TO COST OF TICKET TO TORONTO AND MIAMI-
So our people travel to North America rather than the Caribbean or OECS countries .
Trust that the rate of 100 .00 us by the present ferry is obviously cheaper for interisland travel ..than LIAT AT 400–.500 USD
The main issue here is that like now with the LIAT ticket cost of which the governments have taxed travelllers over 40 %
that thay will allow the economic cost to prevail and be competitive to Caribbean Express !
I did suggets a joint venture with the Caribbean Express which will facilitate a SPEEDY PROCESS WITHOUT ALL THE CONSULTANCY BLACKMAIL of the wolves who await every opportunity to exploit and grab from the sleeping public.
We need travel costs which are affordable to give credence to the base of THE ECONOMIC UNION and FREE MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE .
LIAT is the greatest disincentive to Caribbbean and OECS travel due to the high cost of travel brought about by the rape of overpaid executives .
Here we go again. Mr. Lennox Linton says jump politically and Skeritt asked how high. Since Mr. Linton became leader of UWP Team Dominica, he has been talking about a fast ferry service as soon as he becomes Prime MInister, a. a , Skeritt wants fast ferry service too. Don’t forget it was Mr. Linton who first said Dominica should have its own branded Aircraft.
Okay Skerro , let me know how long a fast ferry will take to travel from P.R to Da.
This does not make any sense. The DLP does not have any more ideas and this is bankrupting our little country.
Man, who said anything about a ferry going to Puerto Rico. Calling o all the OECS countries would be fine, so we could take a direct flight to the U.S.A., Canada and London from Antigua or St. Lucia for a start. And we would not have to worry about night landing at Melville Hall or our luggage staying behind.Going to Puerto by ferry does not make sense. The U.S. authorities would make it difficult for one of our boats to call in there anyway. I would not mind if they would include Barbados in their schedule though.
Puerto Rico in the oecs. Damastronaut
Puerto Rico is NOT in the OECS. “The OECS is a nine member grouping comprising Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines. Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands are associate members of the OECS”.
So is red shirt alone Skerrit have? And if I travel I won’t come to Da on a boat. Let us see how many ministers will try it first.
The current connections out of Dominica by Liat are so diabolical that a ferry does make sense, provide it is a fast ferry as used by Express des Iles. Today, if you want to go to the U.K. , via Antigua for instance, it would not be unusual for you to have to catch the 06.30 flight from Nelville Hall and than wait a whole day in Antigua to catch the Virgin or BA flight to London in the evening. To catch that 06.30 flight , you have to be at the airport at least one hour before departure and if you are coming from Roseau that is another hour so you have to leave home latest thy 04.30 to arrive in London nest day ! That is a killer! I’d rather take a ferry from direct from Roseau to St. Johns, relax and have a cup of coffee, to arrive in Antigua in time for my p.m. flight to London. Coming back would be the same. Say your flight arrives in Antigua 2.30 pm. that gives you plenty of time to get o Dominica that same evening, with all your luggage. It probably would be cheaper too than Liat. I certainly would try it!
From what I have seen , we in Dominica will accept anything and we are the most laidback people in the caribbean.
We only care about what is close to our nose. In such a small island nation we should open our horizons and think global.
I would like DLP and Skeritt to tell us which new countries this ferry service will go to?
It takes more time to travel by boat fast or not than it takes for a flight from Miami or NY to Dominica. So I want Him to tell me again how will this boat thing be a future thinking adventure?
We in Da are too contented with the same old way of doing things and scared to copy the right mordernization from thirst world countries.
What a waste of peoples money. How can Domincans pay those people to talk so much S#@T?
How many tourist coming from Europe and America will take a boat to go to Dominica?
How is it that my Dominican people do not have big ideas??
All they OECS leaders who telling Skerrit about boat service to Da , they alreay have interantional airports!! So it means that travelers will first have to stop in their countires pay taxes there and then come to Da with a smaller amount of cash!!
How can Gov’t after Gov’t in Da allow these other caribbean leaders to fool them so often noh??
These caribbean people are not smarter than us, I have met and spoken to a lot of them and I can tell you. It is just that our leaders lack self confidence when they go overseas and seat in large conference rooms. They become dootish!
Tell Skerrooooo that we in Da do not want any more boats , we want an international airport just like St.Vencent is building now.
So Roseau we in the OECS don’t travel around the islands? So why is it Europe and America alone you can think of??
Lots of us travel to St Lucia, Martinique and Guadeloupe via the ferry so what’s you point??
A ferry service to connect us throughout the OECS Islands is a brilliant idea!!!!! Even those visiting from Europe and America can hop on a ferry to visit the other islands, giving them a complete OECS vacation!!!!
Guadeloupe and Martinique not in the OECS.
Fast Ferry for Dominica is a UWP initiative… Fast Ferry for the OECS is a copy cat from the UWP presented to the OECS …
I’m all for transportation links, but regardless of whether this administration or a UWP one is proposing it, I wonder whether such a service would be economically viable. If so, why isn’t L’Express des Iles or someone similar already doing this?
TALK, TALK and more TALK! Is not that same Skeritt that promised the farmers 2 cargo boats some 5 years ago?
Anybody who believes that pile of crap would have to be stupid!
The reason he comes up with this piece of nonsense is because he has failed to build an International Airport in Dominica, it is time the prime minister accepts his failures. Every island in the Caribbean has an International Airport, including St. Vincent, who’s prime minister fooled him into not building an International Airport in our country.
You are trying to cover up your blonder’s with another lie! Traveling by air is much faster than ferry, who the heck is going to stop flying across the Caribbean to ride on some dumb boat to pleas you, and help condone your blonder at Melville Hall Airport?
Mr. Prime Minister, have you forgotten names such as: Federal Maple, Federal Palm, those were two passenger ships, basically Ferry’s given to the Caribbean during the West Indies Federation, even in those primitive days they sail up and down the Caribbean even into the late 1970’s empty, that is why they were taken out of service.
There were also passenger ships such as the Carribe, and the Flying Fish, they all failed; if in the more primitive days when it was cheaper to travel by boat, these enterprises failed, what give you the idea that because you have become an obstacle in the way of progress in the country by refusing to construct an International Airport in Dominica, you silly talk of fast ferry is going to bring more tourist, and visitors into Dominica, and the rest of the Caribbean is going to follow your stupid idea.
Been there, done that already Sir; your rhetoric at the moment is politically motivated, and designed to keep Dominica backward, it would appear you are a very vindictive individual, and as long as you are prime minister of Dominica, there will never be an International Airport built in our country, and the reason you are not making an effort to built it, is based on the dumb advise you have taken from Ralph Gonzalez, you are holding on to his advise even after you have proved he made a fool out of you. I wonder if on the opening day of St. Vincent International Airport you will have the nerve to go and pretend you are congratulating the people of St. Vincent, on their achievement, while you are introducing us to some dumb ferry boat.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
You failed us, you failed the people; you failed the country, and you have failed and disappointed your very own self! The alternative Mr. Skerrit is an International Airport, you can try to polish, you can try to deceive the people, you can lie, the fact is our problem is not getting people from the Caribbean to visit Dominica, since LIAT can get them there in its own time.
Our problem is International: We need international flights into and out of Dominica, anybody with commonsense has long recognized that; why are you pretending, and involving in such nonsensical comments when the facts of the matter stare you in your face every day, and each time you board a LIAT flight out of Dominica!
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
So Francisco let me get that straight, if we have an international airport are you saying LIAT will be no more?
So if i am travelling to Grenada to a meeting is virgin Airways or British Airways i will take to get me there??
Are you saying we who live in the OECS do not do inter island travel? And you are basing your brilliance on what use to happen when we were all colonized?
Wow Francisco, just wow, i know the Express d’isle always full from Guadeloupe to St. Lucia and is the same ferry service that transports most of the people to celebrate with us during carnival and independence.
The idea is a brilliant one as it will assist the countries in the OECS build that most needed bridge between islands. Most of us will visit the islands especially during their festive times!!!
He is NOT saying anything you are saying!
“So Francisco let me get that straight, if we have an international airport are you saying LIAT will be no more?”
Well, eventually LIAT will be no more, whether Dominica has an International Airport or not! By the time Gonzalez St. Vincent International Airport come on stream, and St. Vincent is no longer dependent on LIAT, it is going to be a different ball game. And that could change as soon as later this year when the International Airport in St. Vincent commenced operating.
If you can do island hopping on a 777, or a 747 high powered jet propulsion aircraft which can take you from Dominica to Antigua in fifteen minuets or less, would you still want to fly LIAT to Antigua which takes thirty-five minuets none stop from Dominica?
As for the clown who said a fast ferry makes sense, his/her kind are the backward supports of the government who are contented with any crap the government does. If our economy depends partly on tourism, how can anyone in their right mind talk nonsense about OEC, and fast ferry; rather than concentrating on the building of an International Airport. What he is implying is that someone residing in any of the four ends of the earth who hears about Dominica and wish to visit will go through the trouble to fly to someone of the OEC nations, and get on a ferry specifically to go to Dominica to visit; simply because they love the Labor party.
I lived in West Germany a while back; while living there I would introduce Dominica to my friends, and try to influence them to visit Dominica. The first question from the prospective visitor was; how do we get there. By the time I say from here it will take you two hours flying to London, connecting on a flight to either Barbados, or Antigua, that is another eight hours in the air, then you may have to overnight on either of the islands, then fly for an hour or more depending from which of the islands you are connecting to LIAT, and unless the flight is direct to Dominica, that flight may last for more than three hours.
When these people add up the amount of time they would spend in the air, and overnight, on some island, then to have deal with an island hopping aircraft, you know what they asks me? If it is so difficult to get there, why shouldn’t we go on vacation in Las Palmas in Spain, or the Canary islands, we can get there in two hours, and start having fun.
They are correct! So, this crap Mr. Skerrit is talking does not even make sense, His conversation is political, something designed to deviate from the issue of the International Airport, and there are idiots in Dominica who jumps on his bandwagon supporting comments which is not in the interest of Dominica, and the development of our country at all! When my father died, I decided to go home, taking one of my daughters with me. It took us eighteen (18) hours to get to Dominica via St. Lucia, by the time we got to Dominica, I was lucky to walk away with my cloths, however to this day more than fifteen years ago my daughter has yet to recover her luggage. If there was an International Airport in Dominica, and there was a flight originating at LAX to Dominica, that flight from Los Angeles, direct to Dominica would have taken no more than six (6) hours!
Since then my grandmother, my mother, and sister has died, to this day I do not where they are buried, I’ve never seen their grave, why, in every case I could not get across the United States, connecting on a flight that could take me to Dominica in time to attend the funeral of my parents, and sibling.
So Dominicans can go ahead and tolerate the crap from the Labor Party, see how far it gets our nation economically.
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
The PM appears to lack foresight and a vision of the bigger picture. He has taken a piecemeal approach towards the issues of transportation. We require a more thoughtful strategy towards transportation and other development issues if we are to realise the level of economic and social develop we need.
But wait nuh, as if that is a UWP idea. Now the PM running to regional meeting and proposing this like its a fresh idea from him?
Dominica has a working opposition man? All their ideas are fundamental and even taken up by the PM at important regional meetings. My young handsome PM disappointing me!
I use to love the man so bad eh! But I think i will really vote change we, too me the PM behaves like a little boy now! He is tired, lost for ideas and just plain ready to leave office.
Whey Whey Whey… So much blose the Animal Show Give Lennox Linton when hey propose that … now skerrit proposing it .. smh… boy… them man eh.. Change is a Must – Ka mem..
In 1833 when the freed slaves were to receive 27 million pounds compensation for their enslavement, the British Parliament renegged citing the claim that “‘property'” can’t receive “property compensation” thus upholding the law that Black people were not human, but property. On top of that they turned around and enforced an “Apprenticeship system” in which it was determined that these remaining 27 million pounds would be paid by the enslaved people to their enslavers, by means of a 4 year period of free labour called Apprenticeship.
The mindset of these local “roast breadfruits” is no different from that of the British Parliament of 1833.!
The British did not promise to pay the freed slave. They paid their owners instead and some of these families are still with us today, even having african blood themselves.
Hmmm. captain the ship is sinking!!!! Alas skerro ou pah las manti???
wat about our investment in liat is it none and void
Ask him again. Everything Skerrit does is null and void. Payoffs and kicksbacks alone he knows how to do. Kmt. Call the elections!
That is a very good question. Mr. Skerrit said that the supposed $8 million we put into LIat would give us a say into how the airline is run but to date we don’t even have a seat on the board of that company. So what amount of influence did these millions buy us?
fast ferry my foot,skerrit keep on fooling the fools.
When UWP suggested the same, they were jeered. Skerrit full of fart. No new ideas of his own, no solid plan, no innovation. Time’s up!!! Call election. Call it now! Stop dragging out this misery on poor dominicans.
wow and when uwp presented the same idea , they were ridiculed by this man….
such is politics