Dear Sir,

The staff of the Marine and Ports ferry service did not wake up last week and decide to “ensure America’s Cup is a failure”.

In fact, the ferries operated additional runs during the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series, with the last ferry to Dockyard at 11.30pm on Friday, 12.30am and 7pm on Sunday, plus late ferries on the Paget/Warwick route — the last one on Saturday was after the America’s Cup Jam finished.

The work-to-rule last week was not malicious, nor was it politically motivated, as was suggested by a Letter to the Editor last Friday.

It is, quite simply, the result of years of mismanagement and the sweeping of issues and problems under the carpet at Marine and Ports. The only redress M&P staff have is through their union. The issue that led to the overtime ban last week is a just one in a long line of problems going back years.

Our ferry pilots, crews and terminal staff do the best they can with an ageing fleet and chronic equipment failures.

There have been days this summer when only two ferries were operating and two cruise ships with thousands of passengers in Dockyard — working under these conditions is incredibly stressful for all involved.

Rather than excoriate the unions and public sector employees, why not ask the transport minister why the public transportation system is constantly failing and transport workers resorting to industrial action? And if the minister wants to hear the truth of the challenges facing transport, many of which predate his appointment, he will bypass permanent secretaries and directors and ask the employees themselves.

Sincerely, ST GEORGE’S