Breakwater renovation likely to take three months, says Port

The renovation of the breakwater at the Bridgetown Port is scheduled to be completed by March of this year.

Chief executive officer (CEO) of Barbados Port Inc. David Jean-Marie said the work is set to begin this weekend and expected to last three months, barring anything unforeseen.

“The original discharge or laytime (to offload the armour stones) was 12 days, working 24 hours a day, but it’s taking longer than that because we’ve had to also bring in equipment, plus sea swells are causing some delays,” he said.

“We’ve had some delays in offloading the ship because of waves that are penetrating in. When you’re offloading with a crane and the ship starts rocking on a one-metre wave, it’s unsafe to continue the offload. So we do have some delays but we’re looking at about a three-month period to build out the restoration works and then cap it all with the armour rock, starting this weekend,” he added.

In an earlier report published in this newspaper, general manager of C.O. Williams, Marc Atwell, said the stones were being stockpiled off the Mighty Grynner Highway as there was no space by the Flour Mill because the space was occupied by damaged fishing vessels. He said the existing concrete dolos currently making up the breakwater were old technology.

Since then, questions have arisen as to the source of the stones, the cost to taxpayers and how many were being imported.

Jean-Marie said he could not reveal costs as it was “proprietary information” but gave other details.

“The stone itself, its genesis is labradorite. It’s a very high density, 2.72 specific gravity granite stone – 2.72 tonnes per cubic metre. It comes from Larvik, Norway, from a speciality quarry that produces edifice rock for large buildings and armour rock for this type of large-scale project.

“So the armour rock that we’ve imported has a gradation of eight tonnes for the smallest stone and 13 tonnes for the largest. We’ve never had stones this large in Barbados before and we’ve had to import special equipment to transport it,” he said, adding the total tonnage was 38 500.

He further explained there was a small window to get the around 3 000-plus stones off the ship – a supramax bulk carrier named the Bay Pearl – which was why they needed to identify someplace to store them, hence the “temporary laydown” area off Mighty Grynner Highway.

Jean-Marie said there was another vessel arriving which was bringing in special heavy equipment, a Caterpillar 395 from Antwerp, Belgium. He said it was equipped with a long-reach stick and boom and could move the stones over a long distance out into the water.

However, he said this type of machinery was not normally used in Barbados, as it was too large to transport on local roads and, if driven, would damage them. This was why, as soon as they were done with the machinery, they would be shipping it back.

He added that the work would be carried out on evenings/nights to minimise inconvenience to traffic.

In response to queries about how much this was costing taxpayers, Jean-Marie said there were larger perspectives people should consider.

“I think instead of focussing on the fact that it’s being paid for by the taxpayers, focus instead on how it is an integral part of the infrastructure of the country and it supports our commercial and local fishermen,” he said.

“I would like the Press to make a point of the fact that this is a solution that is prepared by Bajans and is being performed by Bajans. It’s not a third party from overseas. I need to make that perfectly clear that we are doing this – this is by Bajans, for Bajans.”

A source close to this issue, who requested anonymity, said the cost of the stones was around US$5 million, part of the estimated overall repair cost of US$15 million for the breakwater. She said the project was pre-funded by Government but talks were underway with the World Bank for a loan.

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