Regular mailboat service to the Exuma Cays and Ragged Islands resumed yesterday after a three-week hiatus.
“Everything is fine now. I’m back in service,” Captain Ettiene Maycock, captain of the motor vessel Captain C told the Guardian as crewmembers accepted freight and loaded the mailboat.
The vessel left the Potters Cay Dock late Tuesday afternoon for the five-day journey.
Last month, Mr Maycock shut down his operation claiming the Exuma Cays and Ragged Island route was a hardship area and he could no longer cope financially on the low subsidy given by the government.
He said that his weekly fuel cost was $4,800. He refused to say what amount was being paid to him, except to say that persons traveling similar routes got double what he was paid.
It is understood that there were some adjustments made to the subsidy paid to Mr Maycock, but this could not be confirmed.
Last week Exuma Cays and Ragged Island Administrator Everette Hart announced that the Lady Matilda was providing service to the islands. However, the residents were calling for the return of the regular mailboat.
In a letter to the Guardian, one Ragged Islander resident said the absence of regular mailboat service was causing hardship.
The writer, M Lockhart, said fishermen in particular were having difficulty.
“The crawfish season just recently opened and fishermen are unable to get fuel on time or to send their catch to Nassau on time,” he complained. “It is therefore imperative that efforts be made to put the regular mailboat back in service, as well as a flight (airline) service to service Ragged Islanders.”
He continued: “Ragged Islanders are now in desperate need of their mailboat service and not a substitution mailboat. Passengers are being taken all the way to Acklins passing Ragged Island only to be dropped off enroute back to Nassau.
“This is unjust and unfair to the people of Ragged Island,” Lockhart wrote.
“We cannot afford to charter flights to Nassau, so we count on our regular mailboat service. Hence, when things like this happens, it is fruitless, as the long journey on the substitution mail boat often results in late arrival,” Mr Lockhart said.
The Guardian was unable to contact the island administrator up to press time, but a source said residents would be “overjoyed to hear the good news. I am happy to hear that.”
Guardian sources have revealed that representatives of the Mailboat Operators Association in recent meetings with Ministry of Transport officials have asked that their contracts be reviewed in light of increased fuel, labour and insurance costs.
By: KEVA LIGHTBOURNE, The Nassau Guardian
