Cargo ships can now leave cranes behind, bring more cargo to Guyana

Cargo ships docking at the now connected John Fernandes Ltd-Muneshwers Limited berths would be able to bring and depart with more cargo because they would no longer have to come with cranes, a senior official of their subsidiary Cranes Guyana Inc. said Friday.

Director, Philip Fernandes said ships no longer have to come to Guyana with their own cranes to dock at the Demerara River, Water Street, Georgetown berth because Cranes Guyana Inc has installed two heavy-lift cranes.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) provided an estimated U$10 million loan for the acquisition of the cranes and the subsidiary invested about US$1 million in infrastructural works at the berth.

He said that those negotiating cargo ships coming here could make the case for vessels to instead have more space for additional cargo as there are cranes available at the berthing terminals. “There is more space aboard the vessel if there are no cranes there. The weight of the crane is no longer on the vessel so a vessel can bring cargo in place of those cranes,” he said. He said ship chandlers would no longer be limited to vessels with cranes, giving them more leeway for better negotiations and ultimately improved shipping cost in general.

Speaking at the commissioning ceremony, Mr Fernandes said the cranes, which have a working radius of 49 metres and a lifting capacity of 125 metric tonnes were designed to serve Panamax-sized vessels. He said all of the works at the site were done by local service providers including SKRN Engineering and Civil Engineer Bhageshwar Murli.

President, Irfaan Ali said plans were underway to dredge the silted channel and address road traffic congestion. “The limitation on the size of vessels that traverse the Demerara Harbour continue to face operational difficulties because of siltation in the channel. Let me assure you that these challenges are going to be met with solutions and this year we have placed in the budget capital resources to commence solutions to these problems,” he said.