Guaranteeing transportation during the summer is one of the tasks of the Las Tunas Passenger and General Cargo Transportation Company (CARDINAL). Among these means are the vessels that take bathers from “El Socucho” to “La Boca,” which are not yet in service.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- The boats are very complex naval means, therefore, there are specialized companies that guarantee their repair in case of breakage.
On this subject, Luis Enrique Arias Peña, director of CARDINAL, explained that: "The Company to which we are assigned, with which we have a contract and demand year by year, is the GMAR Group, in charge of providing this service through its shipyards. The demand for the windows stranded in the Nuevitas Shipyard (Camagüey) is made to this company, and it is there where the vessels are taken for specialized repairs and, subsequently, to be certified by the Cuban Vessel Registry, so that they can start working.
“All these procedures are carried out for the safety of the passengers. For the repair of these means, naval steel, and paint, among other resources are needed. "It must be said that since 2019 the country began to shrink from the point of view of imports, all this due to the strong incidence of the economic and financial blockade imposed by the government of the United States, which greatly affects the Transport sector."
"Even with these inconveniences, we received indications from the National Maritime Security Division. The specialized brigade of Nuevitas was engaged. The company started to repair our dry dock, which is our repair shop, so as not to have to go there.”
"Once the dry dock in the province is certified, there will be no need to go to Camagüey to make any repairs. It has not yet been certified, but it is already active."
"Boat 90, which is the one that is technically in the best conditions, had its hull recovered, some holes were plugged, hermeticity tests were carried out; we were satisfied and the final touches are already being put on it, so that when the colleagues of the Cuban Vessel Registry receive the national indication they will go to Las Tunas," Arias Peña continues.
The company undertook the repair of the engine, the shaft line of the vessel, and more bilge pumps, and the salvage means were recovered. The province is awaiting the pronouncement of the Dirección de Seguridad Marítima Nacional (National Maritime Safety Directorate).
"The population must know that without the certification that guarantees the work that is being done, the vessel cannot enter into operation. We must watch over the life of the vacationers, we cannot take risks, because we are responsible for their safety.
"The comment is provoked by the delay with the start-up of the skiff, and this is because the responsibility to repair it was not ours, and the decision was taken at higher levels of the government. Added to this are the delays due to the heavy rains, but we already have the vessel ready to work", concluded the manager.
GUARANTEE OF TRANSPORT TO THE BEACH
At present, less than 50 percent of the existing transportation is working, informed Luis Enrique Arias Peña, director of the company, to the local media, but an organization was made, managing to guarantee in the terminal of the main municipality the necessary buses to transport the population wishing to travel from Las Tunas to La Boca beach.
Because the boats are still in the process of legalization and documentation procedures, the trips do not go as far as El Socucho.
"The service is guaranteed from Tuesday to Sunday. The rest of the municipalities have a similar schedule. In the town of Puerto Padre, mobility is guaranteed with private trucks and state transport buses, which are made available for these activities. Transportation is also provided from Las Tunas to Villa Azul so that there is a guarantee until the end of the summer."
The buses are scheduled to leave at 5:00 a.m. and return at 4:00 p.m., the director informed. "The daily trips depend on the number of people coming to the terminal. We foresee, and taking into account the experiences of previous years, that five to six buses will leave for La Boca beach."
