Workers have arrived in the territory as the Puerto Rico-based Borinken Towing and Salvage and the Virgin Islands-based W&W Reliable Construction mobilise their crews to break down and remove derelict vessels in the Baughers Bay area.
“Their interest is in the materials and our interest is the removal of the vessels,” Ms. Glasgow explained.
Under the agreement, nine vessels are to be removed, many of which have languished in the bay since Hurricane Earl struck the territory in 2010.
At the time of the contract signing in February, BVIPA Deputy Managing Director Alfred Henley said workers would mobilise within six to eight weeks and remove the boats within eight months.
“Aside from the vessels posing threats to safety during storms and hurricanes, they’ve been an eyesore,” he said at the time.
Among the vessels to be removed is the Kodiak Queen, thought to be one of five vessels still intact that was present in Pearl Harbour when the United States Navy base was attacked in 1941.
Stanley Hedrington, the Kodiak Queen’s last registered owner, told the Beacon last September that he planned to sail the ship to Trinidad to have it restored, but the vessel is still in Baughers Bay.
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