Government has responded to claims made by a tugboat engineer who labelled a recent $1.5 million Lloyd’s Register survey of the tugboat Powerful “a lot of money” and “a lot of waste.”

Cornell Simmons, Chief Engineer, raised his concerns over the growing price of his crew’s efforts to get Powerful seaworthy once again, adding that he has yet to receive any report detailing what has been done and what it cost.

The $1.5 million figure Government said it cost to refit the ship was “still up in the air”, claimed Mr Simmons, after work aboard Powerful has continued eight months after the ship returned from the special, 20-year Lloyd’s survey in Jacksonville, Florida.

Responding to requests for detailed information on the repairs carried out and their respective costs, Government said that “the final costs of additional work being carried out locally is not yet known”, with the caveat that they are “not expected to be materially significant.”

Much of that additional cost, said the spokeswoman, is the result of damaged caused by a lightning strike just days before the ship was scheduled to depart. “Work remaining from the yard visit that required completion was largely the result of a lightning strike in the days before the tug’s departure from Florida that required repairs and inspection of on-board electrical systems.” The spokeswoman added that the additional repairs required after the tug returned included “an exhaust leak that resulted in funnel cutting and welding work.”

Asked why it has taken Powerful so long to resume service, Government said “the winter work list grew” due to the exhaust leak and subsequent funnel cutting, while “any outstanding Lloyd’s Survey work due to the lightning damage in Florida was simply being completed with reduced priority.”

“Such survey work is due to be completed by Lloyds imminently.”

Government also rubbished Mr Simmons’ claim that many of the repairs carried out locally were the result of poor quality workmanship, adding: “Unlike the exhaust repair, the Lloyd’s survey items have never prevented the vessel’s use,” and that there’s “been no ‘undoing’ of the work carried out to the Powerful.”

Mr Simmons said the problems left for him and his crew — while not irreversible — would cost “a lot”, and expressed his exasperation over the cost of repairing things that were supposedly dealt with in the first place, adding that he was “mystified” at the quality of the work.

Examples of this, he pointed out, included the fitting of bolts that were too small to hold the tugboat’s rubbing rail, and a brand new air conditioning system that he said required more energy to operate than the ship could provide.

The bolts used, said the spokeswoman, “were per the tug’s original design specifications”, and that their use was approved by Lloyd’s “with all repair work being surveyed by them upon completion to ensure that the tug’s rub rail was fit for purpose.”

She also said that the air conditioning unit was installed “after many years of living with an under sized A/C unit on-board that inadequately cooled the accommodation block of the tug”.

“Steps were taken at the yard to fit a larger A/C plant recommended by an experienced marine air conditioning company. This was known to necessitate various peripheral A/C system changes with the final work currently being completed in Bermuda. Correctly managed, the existing generator is sufficient to power on-board systems.”

“Built in 1989, the Powerful was designed for a 20-year lifespan and is now in its 25th year. It is customary for marine vessels to have some form of midlife or end of life repairs to either repair, upgrade or modernise the vessel or its equipment. Taking into consideration the vessel’s age, its condition is good and this is the first time major work has been undertaken and completed beyond the scope of the standard docking survey during the vessel’s 25 years of service.”