Tinian Express sails anew

After conducting a thorough inspection of Tinian Express for six hours, U.S. Coast Guard officials flashed the go-signal for the vessel to leave Saipan Harbor at around 8:30 pm last night with some 76 passengers on board, mostly Japanese.

Ferry service between Saipan and Tinian was supposed to have resumed at 5:00 pm yesterday following a court order that lifted the seizure of two vessels owned by the Tinian Shipping Company. However, the ferry schedule was delayed due to inspections aimed at ensuring the sea worthiness of the ferry.

Lt. Mike Leon Guerrero, chief of the U.S. Coast Guard on Saipan, and Lt. Steve Willis, head of the marine safety inspection division of U.S. Coast Guard on Guam, inspected the life saving device, fire fighting equipment and engine to make sure that the vessel is in good condition to ferry passengers.

“We want to reduce the risk by making sure that the vessel is safe enough to carry passengers,” said Leon Guerrero.

“They (visitors) were already angry because the schedule was not followed,” said one tour operator who came back at around 8:00 pm to take the guests back to Saipan Harbor for the ferry ride.

Tinian Shipping & Transportation Inc. manager Peter Cheung said Tinian Express reached Saipan at around 1:20 pm as the crew had to conduct its own inspection on Tinian Harbor for several hours in the morning before leaving the island.

The other vessel, Saipan Express, will remain on Tinian Harbor, Cheung said.

Ferry service between the two islands is free of charge for one week. Tinian Express however, can operate only four round trips due to limited number of staff, according to Tony Wong, operations manager of Tinian Shipping.

“Some of the staff already left us so we cannot resume the same operation,” he said.

Tinian Express leaves Saipan everyday at 5:00 pm, 8:00 pm, 11:30 pm and 3:00: am. On Tinian, the ferry departs at 1:00 am, 6:30 pm, 10:00 pm and 1:00 am for Saipan.

Ferry service between Tinian and Saipan was suspended for more than one month when the U.S. District Court ordered the seizure of the two vessels due Tinian Shipping’s failure to pay its loan to Debis Financial Services Inc.

Last Monday, Federal Court Judge Alex Munson ordered the release of the vessels after the financially-troubled Tinian Shipping paid the court $800,000 representing the loan payment which the company is obligated to pay every six months to Debis Financial.

At the same time, Munson instructed the lawyers of both parties to “confer in good faith” in order to resolve their differences on whether the leasehold mortgage is acceptable as a substitute security.

The Tinian Casino Gaming Control Commission last week allowed Tinian Shipping’s parent company, Hong Kong Entertainment Ltd., to execute a leasehold mortgage on the real estate property where its hotel casino is situated in favor of the Clerk of Court of the U.S. District Court.

Hong Kong Entertainment owns a lease on some 125,457 square meters of lot now occupied by Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino on the island-municipality of Tinian. This should be mortgaged to the Clerk of Court as security for the release of M/V Tinian Express and M/V Saipan Express.

Occupancy at the Tinian dynasty Hotel & Casino further declined due to the suspension of the ferry service.

“This translates into a disaster for Tinian as our local budget, which runs virtually all Mayor’s Office programs for the benefit of our community, is dependent almost entirely upon the taxes paid by the Dynasty,” said a petition earlier sent to the court by some 292 Tinian residents.