MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Island Shipping Users' Meeting.
Given the scattered nature of the Falkland Islands archipelago, inter island shipping has always been a matter of the highest importance to farmers and so there was a capacity turn out for the first of Tuesday's ?Farmers Week' meetings.
One year after taking over the delivery of inter-island shipping services from Byron Marine, Manager Ian Wilkinson and the Stanley-based shore staff of Island Shipping Co. took to the podium to defend their performance and to outline their plans for future improvements.
Rural Business Association Chairman, Paul Robertson described the past year's performance of Island Shipping as "a disappointment for the majority of users" though he expressed the hope that "the message has now got through" and that a line could be drawn under the past to enable all to work together for a solution of the difficulties encountered.
A lively exchange of views between the farmers in the audience and the Islands Shipping Company's manager ensued. The latter acknowledged that the company had made mistakes and had perhaps been naïve in some of its ambitions, but challenged the assertion that the majority of customers had been disappointed in the company's management of the inter-island vessel MV Tamar FI. In fact, he claimed, a survey carried out by the company in the New Year indicated a satisfaction level of over sixty per cent, this after what he admitted was "a poor six months" when the vessel had been forced to make three trips to Punta Arenas for dry-docking.
Mr.Wilkinson said that at the beginning of the contract, Island Shipping had taken on "a ship we barely knew and a crew we didn't know at all." Aside from unanticipated problems with the ship, resulting in the need for time-consuming repairs, certain aspects of the Tamar's normal operations had been unfamiliar and had initially taken longer to accomplish than anticipated. This was particularly true of livestock operations. Aside from loading difficulties, the cleaning of the ship after carrying sheep had taken longer than expected.
The lack of certainty regarding the Tamar's operations and difficulties in communication, leading to lost time, were cited by farmers as major causes of concern. Having now traveled with the ship to farms, Mr. Wilkinson said that he now had a new appreciation of the importance of punctuality to farmers. Freed from the necessity to use the Tamar to Punta Arenas it had now been possible to devise a more achievable schedule and he was confident that new systems, which had been installed on the ship would improve communications.
Mr. Wilkinson appealed to farmers to contact Island Shipping Ltd. directly and immediately, whenever they experienced a problem arising from the Tamar's operations so that an attempt could be made to fix it there and then. In the past, he said, there had been a tendency for complaints to be made after the event and not to the company directly, but to councillors or senior government officials.
Answering assertions from the floor that the absence of a local presence in the crew might have contributed to some of the problems encountered during Island Shipping's first year of operation, its manager said that he did not agree that this was significant. He was delighted with the crew, who were very experienced and professional seamen. While admitting that some might have previously been unfamiliar with the demands of live stock transportation, from his own observation it was clear that they had learned quickly and grown in competence. This assessment was supported by the Operations Manager of the Sand Bay Abattoir, John Ferguson, who reported that only one sheep had been lost out of 6000 transported during the season just ended.
Mr. Wilkinson reported that it was likely that the other ship operated by Island Shipping Ltd., the St.Brandan,ld continue to be used for runs between the Falkland Islands and Punta Arenas in Chile. Although discussions about this were still ongoing, the likely frequency of such voyages was one every six weeks. Over the last twelve months, Island Shipping had made nine voyages to Punta Arenas.
In response to a question about long-term requirements, Falkland Islands Government Chief Executive, Chris Simpkins, stated that the end of the current Island Shipping contract was likely to coincide with the conclusion of a study into an integrated transport system for the Falkland Islands and ventured that because of this "the next coastal shipping contract may be quite a bit different."
John Fowler - Stanley
Top Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesCommenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!