Government’s handling of the ongoing ferry dispute has been appalling, Opposition leader Kim Swan claimed last night.

He slammed the lack of “clear, useful and timely information” given to the public on service disruptions and the absence of any comment from Premier and Transport Minister Ewart Brown.

Mr. Swan also questioned why Government was planning to replace fast ferries which are no more than seven years old, as revealed by Junior Transport Minister Marc Bean last week.

“The handling of this situation has been appalling,” said Mr. Swan. “The Government must come clear on all aspects of this controversy.

“Bermuda doesn’t need half statements from the Junior Minister of Transport. We wonder where is the Transport Minister in this mess. This is his Ministry and yet he is nowhere to be seen. Is he too busy to step forward and give people a clear picture of what is going on?”

The dispute began on Tuesday when Government revealed it had been involved in talks with the union and said the public ferry service was cancelled until further notice. It later emerged that workers downed tools because of concerns about the condition of the boats in the fast ferry fleet — though neither Government nor the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) would initially say what sparked the row.

On Friday, Marine and Ports director Francis Richardson said the On Friday, Marine and Ports director Francis Richardson said the Department was working “around the clock” on repairs to ensure that full service resumed today.

But last night, a notice from the Department advised that only the blue Dockyard/West End route and the pink Paget/Warwick route would be operating today.

It said the green Rockaway route should resume tomorrow but made no mention of the orange Dockyard/St. George’s route.

Mr. Swan, Shadow Transport Minister, said: “The failure to provide the public with clear, useful and timely information about ferry service disruptions says the people of Bermuda are not this Government’s first priority.

“We have a situation in which operators claim the ferries are not safe to operate, raising concerns they must also be unsafe for the travelling public.

“Instead of addressing these concerns head on, the Junior Transport Minister says the Government is thinking about replacing the original ferries after just seven years on the water without clearly saying why.

“This confusing statement followed two days last week in which the Government failed to provide the public with timely information about which ferry routes were operating and why the disruptions were happening in the first place.”

The Opposition leader said if the concerns of the ferry workers were serious enough to make them stop work then an independent marine surveyor should be brought in to do a thorough inspection.

“Since the oldest ferries are just seven years old, according to Junior Minister Bean, the last thing we should be doing is rushing out to buy new ones,” said Mr. Swan.

“We need to understand the problems and deficiencies first, given the young age of the vessels. We shouldn’t be rushing out to spend millions of dollars of taxpayer money until we have an independent surveyor’s report, at the very least.”

Artist and businesswoman Carole Holding, who has a store in Hamilton, described the lack of information from Government as “absolutely frustrating”.

She said the cruise ship Enchantment of the Seas — due to arrive at Dockyard today — had contacted her to find out if public transport would be available to its passengers.

Ms Holding said she called numerous Government numbers, including the Hamilton Ferry terminal, but couldn’t get answers.

“I’m trying to find information for two to four thousand passengers,” she said. “I do business with the ship and they e-mailed me. They had been told by somebody that there had been no transportation and obviously they were quite alarmed.”

Dr. Brown’s press secretary said he was in transit last night and unreachable. Senator Bean said he was not in a position to comment on the industrial dispute as he had not been informed of any developments.

Mr. Richardson could not be reached and nor could anyone from the BIU.