The completion of emergency repairs on the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DBH) allowed for the resumption of operations ahead of schedule yesterday.
The bridge was reopened to light vehicular traffic around 2 pm yesterday, four hours before the scheduled reopening.
Demerara Harbour Bridge Company General Manager Rawlston Adams had told a press conference yesterday morning that the bridge, which had been hit by a tug and barge early on Monday morning, was being reopened to cars, minibuses, motorcycles and small canters.
Trucks and heavy machinery were not being allowed to use the bridge, while marine traffic was also not allowed. While emergency works have been completed, Adams yesterday noted that the damaged section of the bridge is still to be realigned. Until that is done, the retractor span will not be able to work effectively.
“What we are looking at doing is some re-alignment. We have not been able to connect spans 13-14 how we wanted. The retractor spans stop at 11 but 13-14 are right after those and we need them to be in line, so we are looking at that alignment and will start some alignment tomorrow (Wednesday) morning,” Adams explained.
At present, some six vessels are said to be waiting to cross at the retraction.
Touching on the works done by the bridge company, Adams said they had to reconnect eight connecting posts, five sheaves, 15 shackles and 215 feet of anchor chains. The chains, he explained, were disconnected as a result of the impact when the tug and barge ran into the bridge.
Initially engineers had discovered nine anchors were disconnected and they subsequently found an additional seven needed to be reconnected.
“When we got there this morning, we realised that some of the difficulties that we mentioned—there were nine anchors to be reconnected—between yesterday and this morning that number changed to 16,” Adams stated.
He further said that while works were ongoing, they found “that a lot of the buoys were punctured. They started taking in water and that started to show ’til later on in the morning (yesterday).”
“And some locations where we thought that the anchorage was okay, it wasn’t. What we have seen and never seen, was that the vessel was able to drag a lot of those 15 tonnes anchorages. So what it says is that it got hooked on a chain and dragged on the bed. That posed a difficulty for us,” he added.
This, he said, caused the buoys to fall out of line. Work to realign the buoys is expected to begin soon.
“Normally you would see all the buoys in line. At [some] locations you see the buoys [in and out]. What that means was that we had to connect them to the anchors where we found them. So it means we have to come back at a much later date and start readjusting and repositioning them. We have repositioned 14 as of this morning and we have at least another four to complete during the week and hopefully that would put us in a better position,” he noted.
‘Cost will be transferred’
According to Adams, while he could not put a figure to the cost of the emergency works, the bridge company was documenting its use of resources and the owners of the Panamanian vessel responsible for the damage will stand the cost for the works.
“We are bearing all the costs now because we have to supply all the materials and when that is finalised that cost will be transferred to the owners of the vessel,” he disclosed. “Things keep changing and we cannot put a cost to it now. We don’t want to be putting numbers out there prematurely because we are still working. However, everything that has been changed and done we have been documenting. At the end of the day, we will tabulate all the cost,” he added.
Adams indicated that his staff had been working around the clock to complete works on the bridge. Most of the crucial works were completed between 1 am and 5 am yesterday morning.
Many commuters continued to utilise the service of speedboat operators between Vreed- en-Hoop and Georgetown yesterday.
Officers from the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) were positioned at the stellings to monitor the operations. Two boats were allowed to be loaded at a time in a bid to prevent commuters from congregating at the stellings.
The day’s operations were executed without any hiccups during peak hours. Off peak hours saw a smooth operation also. Several Route 32 minibuses also resumed operation after the bridge was reopened. Most were seen being able to load quickly at the Stabroek park.
When Stabroek News visited the Demerara Harbour Bridge yesterday afternoon at 4.40 pm, vehicles were able to utilise the bridge without trouble. There was no buildup of traffic along the way to the bridge.
Some commuters who work on the East Bank of Demerara were happy that the bridge operations had resumed. They stood along the entrance to the bridge to board minibuses travelling to the West Bank of Demerara.
MARAD spokesperson Akosua McPherson yesterday informed this newspaper that the agency’s investigation of the incident was still on going.
At around 12.50 on Monday morning, a tug and barge crashed into the bridge, resulting in extensive damage.
The tug, a Panamanian vessel, apparently drifted from Grove/Diamond on the East Bank Demerara and its crew belatedly issued a distress call.
The resulting damage caused a disruption to the normal follow of vehicular and marine traffic forcing, thousands of commuters to make use of speedboats to get across the river for work and school.
The Transport and Harbour Department yesterday said the speedboat operations would have been allowed until 8 last night. It was noted that if the need arose for an extension of operating hours, it would be granted.
