Govt removes wrecks to make waterway safer for ships

Jan 07, 2025 News

…16% increase in marine traffic over the past 4 years

Kaieteur News- Amid increased maritime traffic in Guyana’s waterways over the past four years, driven largely by the start of oil production in December 2019, the Government of Guyana has been removing shipwrecks to improve safety for vessels.

The 16% surge in marine traffic includes numerous supply vessels supporting ExxonMobil’s offshore oil operations. At the Ministry of Public Works’ end-of-year press conference on Saturday, Director General of the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD), Captain Stephen Thomas, highlighted ongoing efforts to clear these waterways.

Govt removes wrecks to make waterway safer for ships

MARAD Captain Stephen Thomas.

“Similarly, the department has a tug that has already been constructed in China by a Dutch company…It’s on its way to Guyana… it’s expected to arrive in the first quarter of this year,” Captain Thomas shared.

Regarding the removal of shipwrecks, Captain Thomas revealed, “Thus far, we have removed 14 and a half wrecks. I use the word ‘half’ because the contractor, which is from the islands, is thus far on wreck number 15. They closed off to go on the annual Christmas break, but it’s 17 of them.”

He explained that the exercise started in 2022 and has been continuous. “Why does it take so long? Most of these wrecks are out at sea, and the removal of them is tremendously dependent upon the weather. If the weather is bad, then we cannot work, so we have months when nothing is done,” Thomas said.

Despite these challenges, Captain Thomas expressed satisfaction with the progress. “The removal of these wrecks… there are some wrecks that were there since the 1960s, some in the 70s, and some we don’t even know the age because our records don’t show them. But all of them are being cleared,” he added.

Moreover, he shared that MARAD is currently preparing an animation where they are going to show before-and-after picture of how the waterways were littered with wrecks. He reminded that in the past, in maritime publications, Guyana was considered an unsafe port. “Most ships arrived at our fairway buoy and had to keep very, very far from it because there were so many wrecks there,” Captain Thomas said.

He noted that most of the major wrecks have already been removed from the Demerara and Berbice channels. Captain Thomas emphasised the importance of these efforts stating, “Traffic has expanded tremendously. The channel has to be deepened now, widened…the removal of wrecks gives us that capacity and gives ships the capacity to come safely to our ports.” According to MARAD’s records, 2,867 ships visited Guyana’s ports between January and November 2024. “The ships that are coming are bigger ships, bringing much more cargo,” Captain Thomas noted.

(Govt removes wrecks to make waterway safer for ships)

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Guyana, MARAD, Stephen Thomas, vessels, wreck

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