Alan Rouse

BY KIMBERLY MACKHAN

The owners of “foreign flag vessels” anchored at Chaguaramas Bay are threatening to boycott T&T in favour of Venezuela, threatening the industry which has developed in the area to service the visiting yachts.

They are considering shunning T&T after finding out that marinas in Venezuela are offering subsidised fuel at a price lower than the new rate the yachties are being asked to pay in this country.

Yachties, mostly based in the Chaguaramas Peninsula, have been buying diesel fuel at a subsidised price.

Government subsidises diesel fuel, which is sold to local motorists at about $1.50 per litre, compared to the international price which is roughly $6 a litre.

However, after complaints from the Government of the British Virgin Islands (BVI), it was discovered that local vessels have been buying diesel and selling it in the BVI at prices about six times higher than in T&T.

In a crackdown on the practice, the marinas in Chaguaramas were told they must not sell diesel to foreign registered vessels at the subsidised price and that the yachties must pay an international price.

But since none of the marinas had a marketing licence which would have allowed them to do so so, this meant that the yachties have been unable to buy fuel for the past two weeks.

Many of them were stranded in T&T, unable to leave without fuel.

The impasse was resolved on Wednesday with NP arranging to supply diesel to Power Boats Mutual Facilities for sale to the yachties at the international price. However, this price has turned out to be about five or six times higher than the subsidised fuel they previously bought.

“There must be a solution to offer yachties an incentive to return to Trinidad without subjecting us to paying the international price for fuel,” said Anne Dunlop, an Englishwoman appointed by the yachties to head a hastily formed group to represent their interests.

Speaking to the T&T Guardian at Power Boats Mutual Facilities yesterday, she said, “I am glad that it’s over, that we are now able to get fuel for our boats, but there has been a consensus among some (of the yachties) that it would be more advantageous to go Venezuela.

“We are being told that in Venezuela, it is a lot cheaper to refuel our boats. We are also being told that there is a ceiling on the amount of fuel that can be purchased, perhaps this is something the authorities here can consider, putting a ceiling on the sale of its subsidised fuel.”

Alan Rouse, an official at the Power Boats Mutual Facilities confirmed to the Guardian that fuel was expected to be made available to the yachties yesterday.

“We have had to calibrate two pumps to sell at international prices. Our top priority is to service our visitors and the supply of the fuel is our key focus at present, but we have tried too hard to get the industry stable, and we have done too much work to let it fall,” Rouse said.

A big and growing industry has developed in the area to service the needs of the visiting boat owners. According to a survey, some 1,500 yachts sail into T&T waters each year to wait out the annual Caribbean hurricane season and make repairs to their vessels.