On Monday, there was a newspaper advertisement from the National Infrastructure Development Company (Nidco) announcing that the Government, through the Ministry of Works and Transport, wanted to procure a commercial floating dry-docking facility to be located at the Caribbean Dockyard Engineering Services Ltd (CDESL also known as Caridoc) in Chaguaramas.
The advertisement states that respondents with the requisite technical experience and with a proven track record of providing similar facilities were invited to proposals for the procurement of either:
•↓ A used commercial floating dry docking facility no older than five years or
• ↓A new build commercial floating dry docking facility.
According to the advertisement, submissions for the used commercial dry-docking facility will be evaluated first and if there are no suitable submissions, Nidco will then evaluate the submissions for a newly built facility.
The scope of works for the required floating dry-docking facility includes the following:
• ↓The supply, delivery, installation and commissioning of a used or new floating dry dock facility with commercial-grade equipment;
• ↓The provision and installation of a suitable anchoring system;
• ↓The provision and commissioning of a standby generator, lifting equipment, fire suppression system, and ballasting system;
• ↓The provision of a comprehensive operations and maintenance manual;
• ↓The provision of all relevant certificates;
• ↓The provision of general arrangement drawings and specifications.
Now, the reason that Nidco placed the advertisement on behalf of the Government is that the State owns the Caridoc commercial drydocking facility in Chaguaramas, which was previously owned by a company called CL Marine, a part of CL Financial—In Liquidation.
On September 10, 2020, Minister of Finance, Colm Imbert, issued a news release in which he said that the Government had completed the acquisition of Caridoc, which is located in Chaguaramas.
In the news release, Mr Imbert took the opportunity to remind the public that the Government bailed out the CL Financial group to the tune of in excess of $28 billion and it being the largest creditor, filed a winding-up petition in the High Court in July 2017.
Following the acquisition of CL Marine and its subsidiaries, Mr Imbert said the Government had created a new 100 per cent State-owned company called the National Marine and Maintenance Services Company Ltd, to manage the operations of Caridoc.
That new wholly state-owned company had an interim board, comprising senior public officials, “with an immediate mandate to implement a proper governance structure according to the Companies Act and the State Enterprise Performance Monitoring Manual,” according to the statement from the Minister of Finance.
“A partnership with a strategic private sector company, such as an experienced shipbuilder, will be explored in due course,” said the statement adding, “It is expected that in addition to private sector customers, the shipyard will be utilised to maintain, service and repair the Government’s fleet of vessels, including the two new Fast Ferries, APT James and Buccoo Reef, and the two new Cape Class military vessels, under construction in Australia, the Galleons Passage, the existing Coast Guard fleet, among others.”
In comments in the House of Representatives on October 14, 2020, Mr Imbert said the acquisition of CL Marine dealt with three policy objectives of the Government.
The first was that the acquisition of CL Marine was part of the debt recovery from Clico, “and through the acquisition of CL Marine (Caridoc), we have been able to get an asset valued at $119 million, Madam Speaker. So we have, in effect, recovered $119 million of taxpayers’ money through the acquisition of CL Marine.”
The second policy objective, as referenced above, was to maintain, service and repair the Government’s fleet of marine vessels by consolidating that work at a single location in Chaguaramas.
“And the third objective, of course, is diversification, Madam Speaker, because shipbuilding and ship repair is one of the areas that we have earmarked for diversification,” Imbert told Parliament.
The three policy objectives outlined by the Minister of Finance in October 2020 are commendable. In fact, it is laudable that someone in the Government (perhaps it was Mr Imbert himself) had the foresight and vision to acquire the commercial drydocking facility in Chaguaramas from the CL Financial group to consolidate the maintenance and servicing of the State’s marine assets and to set the stage for the diversification of the domestic economy.
But issues arise
Mr Imbert’s announcements in September and October 2020—when T&T was still in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic—should have been followed by a white paper outlining the Government’s policy on the entire ship repair industry in Chaguaramas.
That policy document should have set out the measures the Government intended to implement to return Chaguaramas to being the premier ship repair location in the Caribbean, leveraging its unique status as being a sheltered peninsula on an island below the hurricane belt.
In September 2020, Mr Imbert signaled the Government’s intention to explore “in due course,” a partnership with a strategic private sector company, such as an experienced shipbuilder.
Why was this announcement of an intention to seek a strategic partnership with a private sector shipbuilder not followed up by a Request for Proposals (RFP) targeting experienced shipbuilders? Why was such an RFP not issued in 2022, when most of the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted?
Why, more specifically, was the RFP not issued before August 27, 2022, when an incident occurred at the drydocking facility, owned by Corporation Sole, “which resulted in its floating dry dock being submerged?
“This has rendered the floating dock consequently inoperable for scheduled client vessel services at this time...The shipyard remains operational and is exploring options for resumption of drydocking services at the soonest possible time.”
Why has there been no statement from the Government on the following:
• ↓What caused the floating dry dock to sink suddenly?
• ↓What maintenance was done on the floating dry dock between September 2020, when the Government acquired the asset, and August 2022, when it sank?
• ↓What was the value of the sunken floating dry dock?
• ↓Was the facility covered by insurance and, if it was, what was the extent of the coverage?
• ↓What is the estimate of the revenue that has been foregone as a result of the sinking of the floating dry dock?
• ↓What is the estimate of the amount of money the Government has spent repairing or maintaining its marine assets, since the sinking of the floating dry dock?
• ↓How much money has the Government spent on directors and other fees in the period since the asset was acquired?
• ↓Has the sunken floating dry dock been removed from its location to make way for either the new or used facility?
• ↓Why was the National Marine and Maintenance Services Company moved from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Works and Transport in December 2022
• ↓Will the companies or individuals who respond to the Nidco advertisement be given the answers to the questions above?