in the next couple of days.

Marine and Ports director Ron Ross and Bermuda Industrial Union president Derrick Burgess met with staff at Dockyard yesterday, in a bid to settle the saga.

They were there to find a crew for the tug Faithful , which is piloted by Kenneth Todd -- the man at the centre of a year-long dispute between the BIU and Marine and Ports.

Derrick Burgess said the meeting was fruitful and said he was optimistic that an agreement could be reached soon.

But he declined to say if a five-man crew for the Faithful had been found.

After a recent stoppage by Marine and Ports staff, over the reinstatement of Mr. Todd to the Faithful , part of the agreement from binding arbitration was that a new crew would volunteer for the vessel.

That did not happen and subsequently the two sides met again in a bid to reach a deal at Dockyard.