One year after the imminent start-up of a new ship to connect the Isle of Youth was announced with great fanfare in the official media, the the first test ride of the Perseverance.
The Cuban Minister of Transportation, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, visiting Girona to supervise this “technical journey”, described it as “successful”, but announced that since the vessel “carried few personnel and rolling cargo”, “other tests” will be carried out navigation at full capacity”. The exploitation of the ship, he assured him, will begin “before the end of the current month of July.”
The trip between Batabanó, in the province of Mayabeque, and the port of Nueva Gerona on the Isla de la Juventud, a journey of 104 kilometers, will have an estimated duration, according to what was said at the time, five hours. However, the minister explained that “the real time of the entire process” can “be or exceed 12 hours to set sail back.”
The minister explained that “the real time of the entire process” can “be or exceed 12 hours to set sail back.”
He ferry it has double the capacity of the old catamarans that performed the service, and can carry 430 passengers as well as vehicles and cargo.
The notes of this Tuesday do not give any explanation for the delay in the start-up of this transport service, which in July 2022 it was reported that it would be “in the next few days”.
Neither the schedules nor the prices of the tickets are yet defined, although they anticipate: “It will not be the same as the catamaran, because this is a much more expensive boat.” The passage on the current catamarans, which users have complained about because of their poor condition, costs about 50 pesos.
They also did not clarify where the Perseverance. The National News reported last year that it was acquired for a “million dollar” amount somewhere in Asia –which most Cubans have understood as China– from which it arrived on the Island by crossing seas and oceans. The report then highlighted it as an “important litmus test”, but there have been no words about it this Tuesday either.
On June 22, the authorities announced the resumption of the route of Cuban Aviation between Havana and Isla de la Juventud, with four weekly frequencies and operational until October 28.
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