Appeal against authorized terminal; Tierney serves as chairman of the board.

On Monday, the Board of Directors of the Shipping Authority and the Port Committee were informed that a minivan that crossed the gap between the transit bridge and the ferry was never in danger of falling. 

At a special meeting held at Cape Cod Community College on Monday, the SSA Director of Marine Affairs

Mark Amundsen stated that on November 27, the gap under a minivan was "less than a foot." That incident disturbed Philadelphia residents Jim and Mary Logger. Despite such a "horrible" experience, as Mary Logue said, she and her husband had previously emphasized to The Times that they believed that the staff had done a good job in handling emergencies as exemplary. 

"So is there no danger of any vehicle being launched into the water at any time?" asked John Cahill, a member of the Vineyard Port Committee.

Amundsen said that a cable break occurred the night before the minivan incident, but he severely played down any connection between the cable break and the separation of the ferry Island Home and the Slip 2 transit bridge on November 27. Amundsen said the cables help line up the ferry to the bridge, but don’t fix the ferry to the bridge. He said that this work was done by an anchor cable line connected to the bollards of the wharf. On November 27, Amundsen stated that a cable was not tight enough and could therefore be separated. Upon review, he said that an additional bollard will be installed to help fix the ferry in the slide. 

Somehow, Island Home was used to locate bridges with broken cables. 

"We use ships to locate bridges instead of cables," Amundsen said. "In that case, we think-the captain thinks the operation is safe, so..."

Amundsen went on to say: "The bridge has never been broken, just to clarify this. The bridge is in place when the ship is manoeuvring."

Amundsen said the night before, on November 26, "I don't know what caused the separation of that cable."

In a telephone conversation with The Times after the meeting, when asked whether SSA allows vehicles to cross the bridge with broken cables, SSA spokesperson Sean Driscoll said: "Yes. "

Although what Amundsen said is not entirely clear, Katama's wake seems to help move the island home away from the transit bridge. Driscoll said this is the case.

The Board of Directors and the Port Committee voted unanimously to authorize SSA General Manager Robert Davis to seek continued state permits to allow the use of Woods Hole’s temporary terminal building for a longer period of time. Davis will do this by appealing to the three-person state panel. The goal is to obtain permission to continue using the temporary terminal until the new terminal is completed and put into use. The previous appeal allowed SSA to construct temporary structures that were used for more than four years. Davis told the board of directors and the port committee that a letter from the state building inspector was received on December 7. Davis said the letter told SSA that the state will stop continuing to use Woods Hole’s temporary terminal. "

SSA has 45 days to appeal the decision. 

Davis pointed out that previous state building inspectors denied that when the flood zone required a height of 13 feet, the height of the temporary terminal was 9.5 feet. Davis also said that it was discovered that the openings in the building were not used for coding. 

Informal discussions have shown that as long as the design and budget of the new terminal building remain normal, the call to continue to use the building may succeed. 

Jim Malkin, the representative of the Vineyard Board of Directors, took this opportunity to point out that there is no way forward for using temporary buildings as permanent buildings, as many Woods Hole neighbors have hoped. 

"I think it's important to make people realize that there are many neighbors who think we should continue to use existing buildings," Malkin said. "According to the regulations of the state government, we cannot continue to use that building."

As Davis said, the board of directors voted unanimously to award the "lowest qualified and responsible bidder" for dry docking and overhauling the Nantucket Ferry. Based on the operating budget for 2022, this work is estimated at US$1.3 million. Davis said the request was for "pre-authorization," which is a "we try to stay away." Davis requested pre-authorization because the bid opening date was set for December 14, but the board of directors held a rescheduled meeting on December 13.

He said that the bidding will now begin on December 21. Davis said that if there is no prior authorization, another meeting will need to be arranged to authorize the award. 

According to the staff’s report, the Nantucket will “undergo hull inspections, rudder, propeller and shaft maintenance, coating maintenance in the underwater and superstructure areas, and structural steel updates in the hull and main deck areas required by the U.S. Coast Guard. , Bow thruster overhaul, bow and stern door maintenance, fire detection installation, fuel purifier installation, and windlass maintenance."

Among other businesses, New Bedford represented Moira Tierney as the new chairman of the board. This meeting marked the last appearance of the Falmouth representative Catherine Wilson, who served as chairman. Wilson opted out of the board of directors. The meeting also saw John Cahill being elected as the chairman of the Port Committee. Cahill replaced Ed Anthes-Washburn, a member of the New Bedford Port Committee.

Updated more details of the meeting-Ed.

Yes, as I thought,'Those people have never been in danger in the SSA on site'. What a pile of rubbish! I think the response is simple, "liar, liar, pants are on fire".

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