PLP: ‘Minister’s Misrepresentation Of The Facts’
[Updated with Minister's clarification/apology] Shadow Minister of Transport Lawrence Scott has questioned Tourism & Transport Minister Shawn Crockwell about his statement on Friday [May 17] saying the Millennium ferry boat was in Bermuda.
According to the Bermuda Maritime Operations Center, the Millennium arrived on Sunday [May 19] at around 8.30am. It is pictured to the left in Dockyard on Sunday afternoon.
Speaking on Friday in the House of Assembly, Mr Scott said the Millennium was “not on island”, and Minister Crockwell interjected with a point of order, saying “My information is that the Millennium has arrived this week and will be operational next week. The Honourable Member is misleading the House.”
Speaking a few minutes later, Minister Crockwell said, “My expert advised me that the Millennium has come in, there needs a period of time to get things ready, and it will be in service next week. That was the information that I got.”
The Millennium was chartered from overseas at a cost of $1.2 million dollars to assist with transporting passengers over the cruise season.
Mr Scott said, “On Friday, Minister Shawn Crockwell rose to his feet in Parliament to adamantly declare that the charter ferry ‘Millennium’ is already on the island, and should be deployed next week.”
Mr Scott said that over the weekend he was “unable to find independent confirmation of the Minister’s claim.” He said, he “has heard from members of the public who are emphatic that the charter boat is yet to arrive in Bermuda.”
The Shadow Minister said that “unless the Minister is able to confirm that the charter ferry was in Bermuda waters when he rose to speak in Parliament his credibility and that of the Government will be seriously questioned.”
Audio of Minister Crockwell speaking on Friday:
Mr. Scott repeated the point he made in the House of Assembly, “It can be seen that over the past five months the Ministers management style has resulted in a hefty price tag that is in the millions … and appears to become more costly with each decision he makes.”
“If it proves that the Minister is willing to mislead the House and public over a relatively small issue, what will he do when it comes to the big issues,” said Mr Scott.
When asked about the boat’s arrival on Sunday, Mr Scott said, “The misinformation and/or misrepresentation of the facts by the Minister is troubling as the Minister informed the not just the House but the people of Bermuda days ago seemingly in the interest of leading the country to believe that it was on island when it actually wasn’t.”
We asked the Transport Ministry for a response last night, and will update as able.
Update May 21, 2.39pm: In response, Minister Crockwell said, “In the House of Assembly on Friday I erroneously stated that the Millennium Charter Ferry had already arrived on island as I was advised by my technical officer earlier in the week that the ferry would be on Island by Friday.
“It turned out the Millennium was somewhat delayed while they waited for a suitable weather window to come to the island and arrived on Sunday, May 19th.
“I apologise for this honest mistake. However, I am thrilled the Millennium has arrived and look forward to the vessel entering service very shortly to assist our local fleet for the summer season,” concluded Minister Crockwell.
The ferry is shown below in St George’s this afternoon [May 21]:
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- Scott: Millenium Ferry Costs Way Over Budget | Bernews.com | November 5, 2013
a picture is worth a thousand words….. looks like it’s here to me. unless someone is REALLY good at photoshop.
and as an aside, NOW the PLP is suddenly interested in facts and timelines…? really????? trying to drum up a negative beat over the arrival of a ferry? shame on you, scott – maybe throwing a few brain cells toward moving this island forward would be time better spent. the sad truth is the PLP would LIKE to see the OBA fail – they don’t seem to connect the dots that govt failure is bad for ALL of us – case in point is how bad things are today – guess who got us here? hint: it wasn’t the OBA.
Yawnnnnnnnnn more PLP politic crapping
Growup for goodness sake and stop embarassing Bermuda .
Members of the public were emphatic?
Is that the best you got?
Is this guy 6 years old?
So its ok when a convicted thief lies? As long as he is oba.you are all a bunch of pricks !
Well if you’re going to be a prick about it, which you are, how do you know the vessel wasn’t within Bermuda’s Exclusive Economic Maritime Zone, which extends 200 miles?
If it tied up at the dock early on Sunday morning, it would have been well on its way here by Friday. If the vessel was on Friday within, or even close to, Bermuda’s EEZ waters, then it was here, for all practical purposes.
Ah…our regular little homophobe….you have no credibility
This is the same poster who said F*%k the Breakaway and every tourist on it last week.
Kat? Just wondering do you feel the same way about your own parties bank robber when he speaks? Look it up! Its not a secret and I would normally not bring it up since that was part of his past. However, since you threw the first stone, I shall throw one back at your own glass house.
Does Mr. Scott have nothing better to do than to spend his weekend running around tring to see if a ferry is here. Get a life Mr. Scott and stop trying to put the OBA in a bad light. at least tehy are trying to fix the mess you all made.
I don’t really care if it is a week early or a week late, as long as it is being done. The Opposition is picking fights over the smallest of details. This does not reflect well on the PLP.
What does!
amazing……if the PLP would have chartered this ferry, they would have been the worst people on earth. Not that the OBA has this idea it’s the best idea.
I wonder how much they paid ya bwoy to leave ***’s motoryacht to shadow the US captain in local waters??!!!
The PLP did beging the process of chartering this ferry prior to the election as a means to address the transportation issues that plagued ODckyard over teh last few years durig the tourist season.
It was a good idea then as it is now.
The PLP did charter the ferry. And it was / is a good idea.
Remember the stranded tourists in Dockyard last summer? Needs to be avoided or we risk losing the cruise market altogether. Why risk it happening again, instead try and find a solution in the short term and a create a more sustainable plan for the long time.
Too complicated for you to understand?
The Minister was misinformed for whatever reason and was caught out by Scott.
He should have been on top of the ferry arrival time, and been there to meet it.
$1.2m
Massive effort was raised to ready the port…
Just wondering why a similar effort could not be raised towards repairing the existing fast ferries in the fleet…
$1.2m
Without knowing the options of course… I would prefer to have invested in our fleet…
$1.2m would not cover the extent of repairs for the ferries. They all need new engines and new thrusters. We probably need new ferries because they were in such disrepair. The timeline of repairs would also be extensive and Bermuda needs transportation for the cruise passengers now and it needs to be reliable all summer long.
Also the BIU tend to strike when we need the ferries the most, if we risk them doing so, we risk permanent damage to the Island’s rep as a Mega Cruise port and then we lose the ships/tourists as a result- too big a risk to take in the short term. Especially with the economy as bad as it is.
we don’t need new motors and we don’t have thrusters.we need to rebuild the motors and parts and time to do so for three years,further more if you have a 20ft boat on a mooring and you buy a 50ft boat the obvious thing to do is to upgrade it for strength you idiot.the workers sat down in the off season to let fools like you exactly what is going on but ur stuck so far up the political oba s lies you missed it but youll find the extra money to pay the 3m it will cost the taxpayer for the vessell that is older than our fleet
I find it most interesting and telling that the majority fast ferries, whcih are just about a decade old, are basically inoperable while the old UBP ferries keep on chugging along with the ones recently decommissioned stillin good enough shape to be sold to a private buyer.
Also, you haven’t had access to necessary parts for 3 years and yet you rail against the OBA? How do you feel that the PLP is the Party that negotiated the lease of the Millennium?
Can you explain why the engines are in such shoddy condition? Is it because operators like yourself don’t know how to operate them properly? or allowed them to continue into a state of disrepair until it was too late. The facts are that the current M&P ferry model is unreliable to the extent that we risk damage to our reputation. Workers can down tools all they want, keep it up. Keep damaging the economy, tourism and our Island. Sorry yes you are correct, the boats don’t have thrusters you go in bow first and leave it in gear against the dock blowing gas and running the engine all day- no wonder we have issues with the motors.
$3m for the vessel that is older than our fleet? The PLP spent millions on these boats and we now have to bring in something older and more reliable because of the incompetence of M&P ? Not really something to be proud of- yet you call me a fool when people like yourself are ultimately the ones responsible.
how bout guys shouldn’t have brought fresh water engines ferries for use in salt water. smh blame de DEB for dat!
ok now im currently doin marine tech away in school learning bout the engine and drive systems in boats new and old now if 1.2m is not enought to repair the fast ferry fleet that would render every vessel completely unsafe and the real question is if its goin cost that much to fix it why were they let go so far back
If ever there should be experts on misrepresenting facts, then the PLP are it.
$1.2m for the charter of the Millennium. I wonder how much the local captain is getting paid to be on board to oversee the US captain!
After all, the local skipper just left a six figure job on the ***** to accommodate government. Is the OBA matching his salary……I wonder…
politacal mariner……not by a long shot….lol….
OBA LIES, Get Over It
No one cares what you think!
Sit Down and Keep It Shut!
Worrying about exactly when a boat arrived. Is that the best the PLP can come up with? They make themselves look so childish.
PLP was the one who targeted the mega ship (OBA fought against it favoring keeping to the smaller ships) but OBA gets the pat on the back for the Mega ship being here. PLP builds the dock to accommodate the mega ship (OBA fights against it saying it will kill buisness in Hamilton) but the OBA gets a the pat on the back for the dock even though the OBA don’t expect their work finished until 4 months over schedule & over budget (yet not a whisper on that fact). PLP initiated bringing in a back up ferry to prevent any potential issues yet the OBA get the pat on the back for it (though I personally feel for the amount of money involved they could of fixed the existing ferries requiring repair to return to service).
I’m not even a party supporter (neither PLP or OBA) but I can’t overlook the amount of bias certain people are showing & not just on the subject of this ship & wharf. It’s good to hold governments to task but it shouldn’t be done from a biased perspective. This biased negativity isn’t good for the country as a whole & it’s time for people (across the board) to stop being so childish & petty. (yes, I know there’s going to be childish & petty responses to this but I expect no less).
1.2 mil on a ferry- why not spend the money to train a few mechanics to fix the ferrys already here. More jobs for Bermudians- go figure.
my understanding is that the M&P team refused the offer of training by the ferry manufactuer….but 10 years later look at what we’ve paid for. I’m glad the ‘experiment’ is over and I hope SAGE recommends privatization of all public transportation.
that maby true but as a current student at NEIT all mechanics in the field should know it dosent take a rocket scientest to actually pic up a service manual and read if someone is an expirenced mechanic they should know that and should know how to comprehand instructions
The OBA are doing such a good job,the PLP have nothing to complain about,so this!
JUST LIKE THE OBA SAYING THE DOCK WASNT GOOD TO BE USED ON THE NEW SHIP… GUESS WHAT, THEY USED THE SAME ORIGINAL DOCK WITH NO PROBLEMS…THE WHOLE PURPOSE OF THE MILLENNIUM FERRY BEING BOUGHT TO BERMUDA WAS TO SERVICE THE NEW CRUISE SHIP. GUESS WHAT IT COMES TOMORROW FOR HER SECOND VOYAGE AND THE MILLENNIUM STILL WONT BE IN SERVICE.. SO WHAT ARE WE PAYING FOR IF I SEE MARINE & PORTS FERRY STILL GOING ST GEORGES…..SMH
Let a good stiff wind blow against the Breakaway and it will BREAKAWAY. That’s why the new dock is needed and had you been paying attention it is known that the ship has to keep its engines running to hold its position or risk ripping up the dock. Also, the new ferry will supplement our fleet and in case you didn’t know, one of our ferries crashed into the dock today. When that ferry is repaired and the others breakdown over the summer then we have a backup.
We are paying to keep our reputation in tact.
@PLP, Duh……….. And your point is? Start doing something to help the island. Get over your loss of power!