By Orville Williams
In exactly one week, the V2V Empress – a 245-person capacity fast catamaran ferry – is scheduled to commence passenger services between Montserrat and Antigua, in a big boost to connectivity between the two islands.
The government of Montserrat signed a contract late last week with NAVIYUC S.A. De C.V., the operators of the vessel, for the service which will run for five months, until March next year. Under that agreement, the vessel will sail five days per week during off-peak periods and six days per week during peak periods (December 2023 and March 2024).
This will certainly have come as welcomed news for the dozens of persons who travel weekly/bi-weekly between the two islands, particularly residents in the Emerald Isle who frequent Antigua for shopping and other business purposes.
The vessel will also cater to persons travelling for tourism purposes, with a number of day tour services from Monserrat to Antigua and Nevis; travel from Antigua to Nevis or vice versa – with a short stayover in Montserrat – could also form part of the offerings.
The V2V Empress arrived at the Nevis Street Pier in Antigua early yesterday, in order for officials from the Customs & Excise Division and the Immigration Department to carry out the necessary checks on the vessel and its crew ahead of the start of service.
Some of the Customs officers who participated in those checks told Observer that the vessel ticked all the necessary boxes, and expressed delight with how spacious and modern it was – all qualities that should bode well in attracting passengers travelling between the destinations.
Further inspections from Port Authority officials are scheduled to take place today.
The vessel is run by an all-Mexican crew of seven, captained by Jesus Ramirez, and is loaded with state-of-the-art equipment (including a brand-new engine), accessibility for disabled passengers, ample storage space, and comfortable seating areas decked out with modern amenities like leather seats with charger ports and food trays.
“We are really excited to sail [between Antigua and Montserrat] and to ferry the passengers over the next five months. The crew is looking forward to this new experience, the boat – a really nice luxury vessel – is ready, and we’re anticipating the start of the service,” Ramirez told Observer.
Though it has a capacity of 245, the V2V Empress will – under the agreement – only transport 192 passengers on its daily trips, unless otherwise requested by the Montserratian government. And, based on the power it possesses, it is estimated that travel time between the islands should be around an hour and a-half.
Meanwhile, work is ongoing to outfit the Nevis Street Pier with the necessary facilities for Immigration and Customs, to better streamline the provision of those services to passengers travelling on the ferry.
According to sources, the processing of passengers on the pier itself in the past was causing a bottleneck, but these improvements – which will see disembarking passengers processed on the pier and boarding passengers processed at the facility at the front of the pier – should result in greater efficiency.
These works have been hailed by Roberto Chami, NAVIYUC’s representative, who also spoke with Observer during a brief tour of the vessel.
“We are here in [Antigua] right now to do the proper inspections with [the necessary authorities] and we hope we’re going to start from November 2nd.
“We appreciate the confidence that the government of Montserrat had with us, and of course, the confidence that the government of Antigua and Barbuda and the Prime Minister had with us also.
“They are fixing everything in order to have this service [and] they are also investing in having new [facilities] for Immigration and so on … the project is going [well on] both sides, from Montserrat and Antigua, and it’s really nice to have a nice boat, but also nice facilities that the governments are investing in,” he said.
The ferry service between Montserrat and Antigua, commencing with the inaugural trip from Montserrat on November 2nd, will cost approximately US$200 round-trip, and online bookings will be available at ferry.mniaccess.com/book once the system is activated by October 27.