Georgetown: The Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) will be closed to vehicular traffic from 22:00h on Wednesday to 04:00h on Thursday, to facilitate repairs after a vessel collided with the bridge, causing major damage on Sunday.
Currently, the structure is closed to marine traffic and is expected to resume opening for river vessels on Thursday. DHB General Manager Rawlston Adams said the incident occurred on Sunday about 05:15h, and involved an internationally-registered fuel tanker owned by Pritchard-Gordon tankers of the United Kingdom. According to Adams, the captain of the vessel, a local, was given clearance to transit at 05:15h; however, it was observed that the vessel was approaching in an unorthodox position.
“After that was noticed, instructions were then given to the pilot again … the response from the pilot was ‘I know what I am doing,’ ” Adams revealed. Subsequently, after the pilot’s failure to observe instructions, the vessel struck the bridge, damaging the structure.
Inspections have thus far shown damage to two cluster piles that are used as guides for marine pilots to line up their vessels to transit the bridge, four connecting posts, one pontoon and the transom. The bridge was also slightly repositioned following the mishap; however, that was corrected several hours later and vehicular traffic resumed.
“We expect that the owners of the vessel would bear all the costs. I have had an initial discussion and they have made a commitment that once we do a joint inspection and we assess the cost, they have given a commitment that they will stand the cost for the repairs,” Adams stated. “We had fabricated those components a long time ago in the event of such. We are confident we have the necessary resources to fix and restore the bridge to proper order,” added Adams.
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