HGP Nightly News – Alliance For Change Leader David Patterson has called for independent maritime experts to investigate whether the MV Barima lost access to the specialised maintenance arrangements needed to keep the decades-old ferry operating safely.
Speaking at an opposition press conference, Patterson said the vessel’s age made maintenance far more than an administrative exercise.
“For a vessel this age, maintenance is not a routine administrative matter. It is a matter of public safety,” he said.
Patterson began by expressing condolences to the families of those who died, support for the survivors and appreciation for the teams involved in the recovery operation.
He said the MV Barima was commissioned in 1939 and served Guyana on several routes, including the West Bank of Berbice and Bartica, before becoming closely associated with the North-West District service.
According to Patterson, the vessel was designed to carry approximately 150 passengers and 290 tonnes of cargo. Government officials have since cited different certified capacity figures, an inconsistency expected to be examined by the Commission of Inquiry.
Patterson said established contractors, including the Guyana National Industrial Company and Courtney Benn Contracting Services, handled general and specialised repairs from the 1990s until 2020.
Because of the ferry’s age, he claimed, some structural components had to be specially manufactured overseas. The longstanding relationships with those contractors provided access to replacement parts, institutional knowledge and technical support developed over years of working on the vessel.
Patterson alleged that those arrangements were disrupted after the PPP/C returned to government.
He said contracts previously awarded to Courtney Benn were withdrawn and that the company later entered liquidation. Patterson also said GNIC ceased operating after its dockyard was repossessed by the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited.
Maintenance of the MV Barima was subsequently assigned to another company whose principal business was fishing, he claimed.
“This is not a personal attack on any contractor,” Patterson said.
The central question, he argued, is whether the change broke the ferry’s connection to specialist fabrication services, proven maintenance procedures and the technical expertise needed for a vessel dating back to the 1930s.
His assertions about the contractors and the consequences of the changes have not been independently verified. There is also no finding at this stage that the MV Barima’s maintenance history contributed to the capsizing.
Public Works Minister Juan Edghill has maintained that no report declared the ferry unseaworthy. He said it was last dry-docked in 2024 and was scheduled to return to dry dock during the second half of 2026 as part of its regular maintenance cycle.
Edghill has also said procurement documents outlining proposed hull, propulsion, steering and other repairs represented the normal process for preparing an ageing vessel for scheduled maintenance, rather than proof that it was unfit to operate.
Patterson offered a different account of the vessel’s earlier rehabilitation.
He said the MV Barima entered dry dock in November 2015 for extensive work, including the installation of new engines and shafts, other mechanical repairs and improvements to its passenger and cargo areas.
The rehabilitation took approximately 18 months, according to Patterson, and the vessel returned to service in March 2017. He said it continued to undergo the required maintenance cycles between 2017 and 2020 and was considered seaworthy during that period.
Even then, he said, the former administration understood that the ferry’s remaining useful life was limited.
That assessment led to plans for a replacement vessel for the North-West route, financed through a grant-and-loan arrangement with the Government of India, Patterson said. Designs were developed and a shipbuilder selected following an international tender, but the award was challenged by an unsuccessful bidder, delaying the process.
Patterson’s account adds another line of inquiry to an already complex investigation. Beyond establishing whether the MV Barima was technically certified, investigators will have to examine the quality and frequency of its repairs, the qualifications of those performing the work and whether recommended maintenance was completed before its final voyage.
