Baie Ste Anne jetty handed over to Coast Guard   |16 August 2023

A partial view of the Baie Ste Anne jetty

The Seychelles Ports Authority has handed over the Baie Ste Anne jetty to the Seychelles Coast Guard.

This was during a ceremony held yesterday morning at the jetty in the presence of the commander in chief of the Seychelles Defence Forces, President Wavel Ramkalawan and the chief executive of the Seychelles Ports Authority, Sony Payet.

It was the Minister for Transport, Anthony Derjacques, who signed and handed  over the official documents to the chief of defence forces, Brigadier Michael Rosette, who signed on behalf of the coast guard.

When addressing the guests, Minister Derjacques said their presence at the Baie Ste Anne jetty marked another important milestone in its history and more development in port services, which shows it was no longer generalised but moving into specialised service as well.

Minister Derjacques said the jetty, which has served the Praslinois and maritime sector since 1970, was entering another stage and that was to be used as a base for the coast guard.

“Despite its rich history and sentimental value for Praslinois, the jetty is not being erased. It is today officially taking up a new function as the coast guard base. A primordial service to ensure security to our islands and in the fights against illegal actions occuring in our seas,” said the minister.

He added that the new development shows that the ministry’s work was not focused only on construction and transportation but goes well with “ensuring protection and security to all that use the sea”.

For his part, Brigadier Rosette, who accepted the infrastructure on behalf of the defence forces, said the transfer represented another accomplishments in their continued efforts to implement projects aimed at enhancing the security of our locals and visitors while at sea.

“Rescue and safety at sea remain a priority for our country,” he stated.

Brigadier Rosette said as a maritime country, Seychelles faces a lot of challenges to protect its vast area but maintaining its presence in key strategic locations gives the country an operation advantage, meaning it can react efficiently and in a reasonable time when an incident occurs.

“The Baie Ste Anne jetty is an ideal and strategic location for our coast guard base as it decentralises our service and presence from Mahé to Praslin. It is occupied with basic equipment and provide facilities which would allow us to station our officers, and big and small vessels that could be deployed at any time to respond to incidents in the Praslin and La Digue areas as well as other neighbouring islands,” said the Brigadier.

The commander in chief also addressed the guests to convey his appreciation that the transfer has been made and the jetty was going to be put to good use.

Prior to the opening of the new passenger jetty, ‘Ero’, in 2022, the Baie Ste Anne jetty which was the main passenger terminal on Praslin was welcoming over 679,000 passengers travelling to and from Mahé, Praslin and La Digue on a yearly basis.

Compiled by Patsy Canaya

Photos by Romano Laurence