Private investors and banks have effectively frozen funding for the long-promised intra-regional ferry service, as senior regional sources point to repeated missed deadlines stemming from lost access to vessels and outdated feasibility work – even as CARICOM governments race to build the regulatory framework they say is needed to make the venture bankable.

For now, supporters of the ferry project are pinning their hopes on a regional government initiative to use a Trinidadian vessel from as early as September — and overcome huge legal and technical hurdles.

Key industry figures have told Barbados TODAY the governments must first be able to implement the necessary protocols to ensure financiers’ investments are safe.