A landmark new ferry service connecting three Caribbean destinations is anticipate to launch service in the next few months, according to Guyana President Dr Mohamed Irfan Ali.
The ferry, the product of a partnership between Guyana, Trinidad and Barbados, will transport both passengers and containers, according to Guyanese officials.
“In another two, or three months that ferry will begin operations, and we are hoping that this will instil confidence in the private sector,” Ali said.
Customs and Immigration offcials from Guyana, Barbados and Trinidad have already “agreed that most systems were already in place and can be adjusted to accommodate the [ferry] service,” according to a statement from CARICOM.
The initial service will be operated on the Galleons Passage ship (photo above), which has capacity for about 400 passengers.
Timeframes for the service have not yet been released; the Guyana-Trinidad trip would likely require nearly a day’s sailing.
But the service may not stop at just the edge of the southern Caribbean.
While ferry services tend to be very popular, particularly with travelers, their broader use in the region has been limited only to certain regions: the US And British Virgin Islands; the greater St Maarten area (with islands like Anguilla, Saba, Statia, St Barth and St Kitts); and Eastern Caribbean islands like Martinique, Saint Lucia, Guadeloupe and Dominica.
Talks have already begun on setting up a common regional ferry service within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
That could be a major game-changer for intra-regional transportation.
In the meantime, a company called Connect Caribe is also looking to set up a pan-Caribbean ferry service.