Docked Essequibo ferry leaves truckers stranded

A line of trucks waiting at Parika yesterday.

Dozens of truckers have been stranded for days after one of the ferries servicing the Parika-Adventure route was docked for maintenance while the lone remaining vessel is unable to carry all of their vehicles.

The MV Malali and the MV Torani normally ply the Essequibo River route, making a round trip each per day. However, after working last Saturday, the Malali was docked. The barge MB Baramani was supposed to take over but after it was sent to Parika, a malfunctioning generator used to power the vessel’s lights forced it back to the dock, Stabroek News was told.

Since Sunday, the Torani was the lone ferry in operation on the route and since it can only accommodate 28 vehicles per trip, there has been a build-up of trucks. The vessel makes one trip per day. Up to yesterday, there were about