of higher speed ferries.

Marine and Ports Services director Ron Ross said plans are firmly in place to introduce the new boats early in the Millennium.

And he explained that the idea behind the new service is to "hopefully alleviate some of the congestion on the roads, especially in the West End''.

Mr. Ross said the four new boats would hopefully be ready by April 2001 and that each will have a passenger capacity of about 200 people.

The vessels are expected to be alloy hulled catamarans with a top speed of about 25 knots and will be able to cut journey times across the harbour by about half.

"The Transport Ministry came up with the idea with mainly the West End in mind,'' Mr. Ross said. "It is hoped that we could attract commuters to the ferry so that they wouldn't have to travel by road.'' He added: "The attractiveness of the idea comes from the shape of the Island.

It's perfect for travel by water and all we need is to have an upgraded service to take advantage of it.'' Mr. Ross said while the existing ferry service was not inefficient or unpopular, it had just been decided that it could be much more up to date.

He explained that decisions are being made by a committee of 15 people from different sections of the transport industry, including representatives of the Public Transportation Board, Works and Engineering, and regular commuters.

Asked what other changes were planned in the near future, Mr. Ross said: "We are considering replacing the existing ferry docks with floating docks so that the level of the water and the dock are always at the same height. This would provide a seamless transition between the shore and the boat.'' Chairman of the Ports Authority Philip Richardson explained that this idea was still in its "preliminary stages''.

"The committee is doing a great deal of research so that we can acquire a good quality product in a reasonable amount of time and at a reasonable price,'' he said.

"Most of our time right now is being spent talking to Works and Engineering about the different facts and figures involved so that we don't make any mistakes in our request for proposals.'' Mr. Richardson confirmed that a party, including Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown, Mr. Ross and a ferry pilot, had traveled to Boston in order to get an idea of what the ferry service and docks were like there.

"Boston's service is similar to what we are planning here, with the exception that the boats are a good deal larger,'' he said. "Of course, having smaller boats here will mean that they should be able to go faster.'' Asked what the docks would most likely be made of, Mr. Richardson said: "It's most likely that they'll be concrete. We've had a look at the floating docks used up in Dockyard and they appear to be very reliable. However, we have had proposals to use other materials, including aluminium.'' Also considered is a change in the stops along shores of the central parishes, and in particular, to the wharf which services the now closed Belmont Hotel.

"The ferry definitely has fewer customers in the central area of the Island than in the West End,'' he said. "We are taking passenger counts and will make decisions based on these.'' Mr. Ross noted that the summer ferry route to St. George's would also be updated and that, hopefully, commuters will be attracted by its higher frequency and shorter journey times.

With regard to the estimated cost of the entire updated system, it was revealed that quotes had gone as high as $14 million.