Antigua and Barbuda’s Cabinet has approved the purchase of specialized dredging equipment to restart stalled works at St John’s and Crabbs harbours.
A delegation led by Minister Rawdon Turner visited Holland last weekend to meet suppliers and later briefed Cabinet on the €1.1m Caterpillar 6015 Excavator package, which includes advanced attachments for rock-breaking.
The move follows a new partnership between the Port Authority, Ministry of Works and Blue Ocean Dredging, which previously built the country’s fifth cruise berth. Earlier dredging at St John’s was halted when equipment was damaged by hard rock formations, with international alternatives deemed too costly.
Government estimates suggest around 20,000 cubic metres of rock and 270,000 cubic metres of sediment remain across both harbours. Officials expect dredging to resume in the coming months, clearing the way for larger vessels, including Oasis-class cruise ships.
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€1.1 million is a big investment, but if it allows us to complete work at both St. John’s and Crabbs, it will pay for itself in tourism and shipping revenue.
The partnership with Blue Ocean Dredging is smart. Using local expertise instead of paying overpriced international firms makes sense.
@ Antigua surf and genique is one and the same, you write this article then blog and answer yourself, an ALP minister at work here protecting the narrative that we will dredge crabbs so hadeed a private family investment can make monies off the Antiguan tax payers selling electricity after the APUA electricity manager and GM destroy the assets that was entrusted to them.
Good move, but I just hope they use it and not let it rot away.
I hope there arent any additional expenses because that dredging has taken more than enough money already
So that’s just over three million EC. Not sure if thats a good deal or not
That was quick, wow.