The refurbishment works at the second pier in Charlestown began Thursday December 20th, 2019 and is expected to last approximately one month before its completed.
NASPA Long Point Nevis (December 20, 2019) – The Nevis Air and Sea Porta Authority, through their Charlestown Sea Port, have commenced the demolition and rebuilding of their center pier on Thursday December 19, 2019, to facilitate the local fishermen, cruise ship passengers and the yacht traders.
Operations Manager at the Charlestown Sea Port, Ken Pemberton clarified that the facelift was well needed for the pier as it received extensive damage in 2016 after the passing of Hurricane Maria.
“We are trying to demolish the front section of the pier, from the land to the lightings, in order to have it refurbished, it was damaged in 2016 by maria and since then we’ve been trying to see what we can do to have it refurbished.
“This has affected the whole trade of cruise, yacht, fishing, everybody. We depend a lot on yachts coming in here to tenders, from different countries. A lot of persons travel via yacht, so we have to ensure that they are comfortable as well entering our ports.
Pemberton explained that the remodeling of the pier will provide ease of access to our cruise passengers who have been using the southern side of the Charlestown pier.
“Once we have a cruise ship in port, the status of port changes, it becomes an international port because then we are working under a code, an ISPS code which we have to keep when we have cruise ships in place. We want to make it in such a way that persons using the cruise ships can access it easily…
“We are trying to make it possible for everybody to be comfortable and have our board fully implemented so that we don’t infringe in any form and we could continue having our cruise season going,” he said.
He also promised that while the refurbishment of the pier will make it exclusive for cruise passengers, the fishermen on the pier will be relocated to the Charlestown Pier to continue their trade.
“Once we have cruise ships in port, we would create space for the fishermen to use which is the area where the ferry operators are operating from now that is on the north side,” he said.
Pemberton urged the public to be understanding and patient during the works that is scheduled to be completed about one month.
“We are hoping that the public would understand, persons at this time who are actually using the pier would understand our position and assist us getting this thing through once and for all,” he said.