GEORGE TOWN — The company leasing the “Pulau Pinang” ferry to turn it into a museum is facing financial constraints in salvaging the vessel which is now leaking and sitting in in the Swettenham Pier Cruise Terminal (SPCT) at a tilt.
Printhero Merchandise Sdn Bhd said it had already spent RM1 million on previous work to restore the ferry’s bottom deck and engine room, before its present problems occurred.
The company’s chief executive officer Abdul Hadi Abu Osman said it will have to spend another RM1 million to re-do the previous restoration work if it can even successfully salvage the vessel.
He said the firm it is still exploring ways to salvage the ferry but added that it might be forced to halt the salvaging operation due to a lack of funds.
This would mean postponing its conversion and launch into a museum, originally slated for the year’s end, he added.
“We are still holding on to save the ferry but (we) do not dismiss the possibility that the salvaging works might have to be halted due to financial constraints.
“So far, close to RM300,000 have been spent for this salvaging operation, (and) the company has incurred RM1 million in losses as restoration works, which will need to be redone,’’ he said in a statement to Scoop.
Repair works for the ferry are in the 11th day today after it began leaking and listing after it was towed from the Bagan Dalam slipway to SPCT two weeks ago.
Hadi said the project to salvage the ferry is fully private-funded. His company however, is receiving advice from state bodies the Penang Port Commission (PPC) and Penang Port Sdn Bhd.
Explaining the difficulties, Hadi said that the main problem in salvaging work is the fact that the ferry sits grounded on an uneven mud pile that is causing it to list to one side.
The vessel needs to be upright before repair works can commence, he added.
Yesterday evening, the salvage crew managed to stabilise the ferry but it held upright for only 30 minutes before listing again.
“Besides the uneven mud pile, other challenges are the tides, where (salvage) works can only commence when the tide is low. Water will enter the ferry compartment when it is high tide again,” he added.
The company decided to tow the ferry and place it in a shallower part of the SPCT or it would have sunk 8 metres deep in the sea, he also said.
Printhero Merchandise is leasing the ferry from the PPC after it was decommissioned.
The ferry was built in 2002 and retired in 2019, while other iconic ferries were retired in 2021.
The ferry service between the Penang mainland and island has been replaced by catamaran ferries.
Knowing the special place the Penang ferry has in many people’s hearts, Hadi said members of the public could contact the company at [email protected] if they wanted to offer assistance or pose queries. – October 16, 2024