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Gordon-Pamplin challenges Minister on ferry deterioration

Hundreds of tourist wait in the noon day sun for the Hamilton ferry Monday in Dockyard while the St Georges fast ferry Cecil Smith and broken down fast ferry Serenity dock near by ( Photo by Glenn Tucker )

Shadow Transport Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin mocked Transport Minister Walter Roban for blaming the poor state of Bermuda’s ferries on salty water.“The last I knew Bermuda is in the Atlantic, in a salty ocean,” the Paget West MP told the House of Assembly on Friday night.“When these ferries were ordered, one would have assumed they would have been done with the idea that ferries would have a 20-year shelf life and we are in the Atlantic.”Speaking during the Motion to Adjourn, Mrs Gordon-Pamplin claimed observers may tar all MPs with the same brush as Mr Roban’s poor excuse-making.“If we are going to give an excuse for criticism from the public, let us at least make something that makes sense, so we are not all looked at as the short end of a level of intellect,” she said.The previous Friday in the House, Mrs Gordon-Pamplin had criticised the standard of ferries, prompting Mr Roban to call a press conference and say criticism “might be interpreted as malicious untruths”.He told the media ferries had been running at full steam for several years and pointed to a number of challenges, including Bermuda’s climate with “salt laden air and high humidity” which “wreak havoc on any metallic structures as well as electronics”.Mrs Gordon-Pamplin also alleged Mr Roban had misled the House the previous Friday when he asserted problems with a ramp at Rockaway had been fixed; she said her own investigations revealed the Minister was incorrect.Replying on a point of order, Mr Roban said: “I would never, never deliberately mislead this House or any citizen of this Country.“The information I received, I considered to be correct at the time and I rose on the basis of that.”