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Charlotte Amalie
Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesBARGE BACK IN BUSINESS AFTER 5-MONTH ABSENCE

BARGE BACK IN BUSINESS AFTER 5-MONTH ABSENCE

Stanley Hedrington and his partner, Jean Charlton, stood on the ramp of their commuter barge in Cruz Bay Tuesday greeting motorists.
"Welcome back," said one cheerful voice after another. The vessel, known then as the Tuglife, had ferried cars and trucks between Cruz Bay and Red Hook from last June until December. Then it literally disappeared overnight.
Now the barge is back — but with a different name, the Roanoke. With no fanfare, it resumed service over the weekend to a slow but enthusiastic reception.
"It's going," Hedrington said. "It's not as fast, considering the fact that everybody has to adjust."
Back in December, when the barge turned up missing, U.S. Coast Guard officials said the Tuglife had been repossessed by its owners in Florida because the Virgin Islands operators had fallen behind on their payments. Hedrington denied this. A few days later he left St. John on a mission to retrieve his vessel.
Now with barge again in Hedrington's possession, and what they say is a new set of investors, he and Charlton say the Tuglife is home to stay.
According to the local operators, Roanoke was the original name of the vessel. They said they restored the name last week while waiting for the Coast Guard to complete the change-of- ownership documentation.
However, Jim Ednes, a paralegal in the Coast Guard documentation office in Virginia, said the owners of the retrieved barge face possible fines of up to $10,000 a day if they change the name before the paperwork is done. "The vessel has to be currently documented," he said. "What has to be on the document has to be on the vessel."
The documentation office keeps records on the history of vessels registered by the Coast Guard, including ownership and any liens placed on a boat. There are liens against the barge, but Hendrington said he expected them to be dropped by next week.
Meanwhile, he said, the Roanoke, or the Tuglife, is operating seven days a week, with its first run departing from Red Hook at 6:15 a.m. and service every other hour until 6 p.m. The round-trip cost is $25 — the bargain rate Hedrington introduced last year, prompting his competition to lower their charges from as much as twice that amount.

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