Residents in the Exuma Cays, including the operators of a private resort and a marina were left suffering as they headed into the second week without the vital mail boat service to deliver fresh produce and potable water to them.
Captain Etienne Maycock Sr ceased mail boat operations along that route last month because he said the government had refused to pay him in line with what other mail boat operators were making who travel similar distances.
Minister of Transport and Aviation, Glenys Hanna-Martin said officials have looked into concerns.
“We are seeking to look at his case in isolation to see if any relief can be made for him. As to the substitute we have agreed with Captain Tom Hanna to do the route this week and we will ensure that there is a substitute vessel while we are seeking to see if we can resolve his problem in the interim,” she said yesterday.
The Captain C’s last scheduled trip to the Exuma Cays and Ragged Island was on July 20.
According to Julie Pinder, purchasing agent for the Musha Cay Resort and Sampson Cay Marina in the Exuma Cays, residents are fed up and want this matter immediately resolved.
“People in the Exuma Cays are suffering,” she said. We are running out of produce and bottled water and nobody in Transport is able to give us a straight answer on which mail boat will be going,” she said.
“Why should the Family Islands suffer because the people in Transport can’t get their act together-Etienne is trying to do the best he can with what he has. He wants to keep his run and he wants to make the people in the Exuma Cays happy, what are we supposed to do?”
This week Musha Cay executives had hoped to carry out some renovations but were unable to begin without the needed supplies from New Providence. According to Ms. Pinder, it is not economically feasible to transport heavy materials like building supplies and water via air.
She was left to consider other options.
“The next step would be to get our own barges and bring in our own food from the States and not spend our money here in The Bahamas. We have got to look at that as well. We want to help the Bahamian economy but if this is going to be a problem, we can go direct to the States,” Ms Pinder said.
According to Cherry Elliott, office manager at Sampson Cay, there were 25 vessels docked there that were in need of supplies.
“With the sun being hot, the people are looking for water and ice. The water is in great demand and we don’t have any. I don’t have any [potable] water and I don’t have any produce,” she complained.
“We have made about four trips to the mail boat and we were turned around. On Wednesday morning when everyone expects the mail boat to be here and it’s not here then I will be losing again because everyone will go to Staniel Cay, which may have had another way to bring their supplies in.”
Mail boat captains call the Exuma Cays and Ragged Island “hardships areas” as there are not many people living there and not much construction going on translating into a lower volume of freight, in comparison to the other islands.
According to Captain Maycock, fuel costs about $4,800 a week and he is only paid slightly more than that per trip, while other operators traveling similar distances to different Family Islands get $11,000 in subsidy from the government.
“I am always willing to work. I hope this matter can be resolved, but I just can’t work under these conditions anymore,” he complained.
By: Tosheena Robinson-Blair, The Bahama Journal
