Paperwork held up putting the Cruz Bay I and the Red Hook I ferries into permanent service, Public Works Commissioner Darryl Smalls said, but he’s hopeful they’ll be under way by the end of October.
“I’ve broken my chops getting this through,” he said.
When the ferries were dedicated in early December 2013, Smalls said they should be in use by Christmas 2013.
The ferries ran in early July in time for St. John’s Festival, but Smalls said they operated on an interim agreement between the government and two St. John-based ferry companies, Transportation Services and Varlack Ventures. Smalls said the ferries then had to go out of service for maintenance.
They’ve been sitting at the Cruz Bay ferry dock ever since, and when the space was needed for something else, in the Creek.
The ferries, which cost $3.8 million each, are owned by the local government but leased to the two ferry companies. The companies also own their own ferries, which they will continue to operate.
Smalls said Transportation Services and Varlack Ventures were slow to get the subsidy agreement back to the government. Each privately owned company is supposed to get subsidy funding each year to help pay operational expenses for mass transportation between Red Hook, St. Thomas, and Cruz Bay, St. John. He did not have that figure at his fingertips.
According to Smalls, the subsidy agreement was just signed Tuesday, and now work on the master agreement needs to be completed. He said that since the government and ferry companies just went through the subsidy agreement paperwork that called for items like business licenses and letters of good standing, it should be smoother sailing on the master agreement between the government and the ferry operators.
“We got all the correct documentation,” he said.
Smalls said the government has to do its due diligence to make sure the paperwork “meets legal sufficiency” because his job is to protect the assets of the territorial government.
Smalls said once the master agreement is in place, the Cruz Bay I and Red Hook I can go into service. He said Transportation Services and Varlack Ventures will be responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the vessels.
Transportation Services will operate the Cruz Bay I, and Varlack Ventures the Red Hook I. Both ferries fly the VITRAN logo, the same as the territory’s buses, because they are government owned.
No one returned phone calls from both Transportation Services and Varlack Ventures.
