Effective June 1, 2021, the British Virgin Islands Ports Authority will add an additional ferry trip between St Thomas and the BVI. The proposed supplementary ferry service will depart BVI at 11:00 a.m. daily and return at 2:00 p.m. from St. Thomas.
The current schedule allows for one trip daily, leaving BVI at 8:00 a.m. and returning at 4:00 p.m. from St Thomas.
The agreement to add an extra trip was generated out of a meeting held on Thursday, May 20th, between the BVI and U SVI officials. The additional service is in line with the Ports’ commitment to increase the number of daily travelers, as the Ports continues to expand its passenger processing capacity, as per the current COVID-19 protocols. Already, the Ports Authority has moved to increase passenger capacity from 50 to 65 on the existing ferry services. This increase will take effect tomorrow, Thursday, May 27th.
BVIPA Management met with Ferry operators earlier this week to discuss the changes. Citing the need to ensure that all systems on both sides of the operation, such as advertisements, logistics and protocols, are in place for any increase in service schedule, the Ferry Operators suggested June 1st as a commencement date for the additional trip.
The BVIPA continues to reach out to and engage stakeholders in this new normal as it looks to restructure its operations in lines with the demands of the pandemic, and likely, post-pandemic period.