New vessel from CV Interilhas will cover the São Vicente/Santo Antão line – responsible

The new Cape Verde Interilhas ship will cover the São Vicente/Santo Antão line and should be in operation by the end of the year, with capacity to carry 400 passengers and 50 vehicles, guaranteed the administrator.

According to Paulo Lopes, told Inforpress, this new ship, which has already been the subject of “much controversy”, should be in the country by the end of the year to cover the São Vicente/Santo Antão line, whose service has been the most criticized.

“The ship is already in the water and it just needs to be christened, which should happen soon”, assumed the administrator of the concessionaire of inter-island transport services, which has been operating since 15 August last.

Negotiations for the arrival of the vessel, according to the same source, have been going on for some time and in the next 15 days there should be a plan for its operation in the national market.

The ship, he added, will respond to this demand from the people of Santo António with the characteristics of being a roll on/roll off to transport 50 vehicles, 400 passengers and equipped with two machines.

For this same line, this person in charge confirmed that the concessionaire considered the possibility of renting the ship Mar d´Canal, which used to make the same route and is now stopped, but something that was not possible.

“Because there is a dispute between the shipowner and one of the partners, which prevents any solution involving Mar d'Canal at this time”, he said, adding that the ship, despite being damaged, is certified by the authorities to operate.

Paulo Lopes made these statements to the Cape Verdean News Agency, in São Vicente, during the departure operations of the ship Liberdadi from the Cabnave shipyards, this afternoon, where it spent four days being repaired.

A repair, which, according to the same source, was carried out “very quickly” by Cabnave professionals and which puts the vessel that will cover the São Nicolau / Sal / Boa Vista line back into operation.

After the departure of “Liberdadi”, the arrival, still today, of the Kriola, also from CV Interilhas, which will occupy the same “cradle” and share the space of the shipyards with “Praia d´Águada”, also of the same company.

“Praia d'Aguada is undergoing scheduled maintenance and we expect it to be finished within four weeks and the Kriola, which has a shaft and propeller failure, will take longer”, said Paulo Lopes, adding that this happens because parts are not in stock and must come from Germany.

The administrator of CV Interilhas also spoke of the arrival of a vessel rented on a ' charter time' basis and which should be in the country, coming from Spain, next week, to respond to the "choke" of the damages.

He also said that the amount to be paid for the lease had not been decided, since the contract between CV Interilhas and the shipowner, who is German, "is not yet fully closed".

The vessel, which is a catamaran, also has capacity for 400 passengers and is equipped with a roll on/roll off system for transporting vehicles.

LN/CP

Inforpress/End