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Tinian drydock facility proposed
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Posted on Mar 03 2006
TINIAN—Tinian Shipping & Transportation is proposing to build its own drydock facility here to ensure immediate repair of vessels.
It cited that, due to a lack of such a facility, one of its only two ferries—Saipan Express and Tinian Express, which ply the route between Tinian and Saipan—could not be repaired since it ran aground in October 2005.
“With the recent unfortunate accident of Tinian Express, we are now left with only one ferry to service passengers during day time; night ferry runs had to be cancelled. The damaged ferry needs urgent repair to resume normal schedule. However, there is no drydock facility in the CNMI,” said Tinian Shipping chair Michael Kwan in a letter to the Commonwealth Ports Authority.
He said the only alternative now is to bring the vessel to either mainland China or Hong Kong, which would be very costly.
“Without a drydock facility, it is very difficult to operate a shipping company on Tinian for the long term,” he said.
Kwan said the proposed facility would be open to other vessels under 160 tons for repair, inspection, and maintenance.
The company proposes to initially invest $1 million to build the facility, which would be located at the tip of Tinian Pier, previously the tuna factory.
Kwan said the company does not expect to generate profit from the operation as it would be mainly used for its own ferries.
However, he said the creation of the facility would bring in more employment and revenues for the government.
In his letter, Kwan said that for 10 years now, the company’s ferries have been providing services not only for its own customers at Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino but the entire public.
