During the first six weeks of the post Irma crisis, the port of Galisbay played an important role in enabling the delivery of humanitarian aid. After Hurricane Irma, the port of Galisbay was the only access by sea to the island for a week.
"The structure was not damaged, which enabled us to be operational immediately," reports Albéric Ellis, the director of the port establishment. After Irma, the land routes and the quays were quickly cleaned up, as were the funds. This allowed the humanitarian traffic to set up immediately.
As of Friday, two days after the hurricane, three large ships arrived. On Saturday two more as well as barges. Traffic turned out to be extremely heavy for several weeks. "For example, the Minas, which occasionally came before and transported vehicles, made three rotations a week between Guadeloupe and Saint-Martin to provide humanitarian aid. The Miner, which usually carries out two rotations per week, carried out an additional one for a month. Until October, he only came from Guadeloupe, then he started to return between Saint-Martin, Saint-Thomas and Puerto Rico. The sailor, who normally comes once a week, has provided between two to three rotations per week, ”reports Ramon Baray, head of port operations.
Each ship carried between thirty and forty containers. In total, 600 tonnes of goods were processed by the port of Galisbay in the space of six weeks. 000 times more than its annual volume.
"The port has played its role fully and safely," said Albéric Ellis, who hopes that this experience has thus made it possible to prove to the authorities the capacity of the infrastructure and above all to show the interest in developing it and developing the site to be able to accommodate larger ships. "To allow the Thunder to come to Galisbay, it lacked only a meter of draft," he notes. (More details on www.soualigapost.com)
6,351 total views
No comments