ITS Company Profile

 Correia’s Interior Transportation Service or ‘ITS’ as it is preferably called, was born out of the need to provide a more economical and reliable form of transportation to support the development of the company’s progressing mining operations in the Chiti-Go-Keng & Aruwai area. As business progressed, there was need to move greater volumes of cargo and fuel.  However there was no airstrip and floatplanes was not an economical option.

River transportation was the only economical alternative to flying, and using the muscle and clout of the company, a viable and dependable river transportation service was introduced and operations begun in 1996.

Massive infrastructural work had to be done to facilitate this new mode of transport efficiently. A railway car system was erected on the side of Peaima Mountain together with the construction of a road to move the cargo with a tractor & trailer; an elaborate pump system was installed to pump the fuel from one side
of the mountain to the other. These operations lasted until 1999 when the company switched location and moved the operation to Olive Creek on the Mazaruni River.  

With the increased mining activities in the Mazaruni River there was need for transportation by external entities. Management recognized this and there was the transition from wooden boats to jet boats. These jet boats were originally designed mainly for recreational activities but management approached the
owners of Bentz Boats equipped with numbers and dimensions, to design a jet boat to suit our  requirements.  As a result we pioneered the use of aluminum- welded jet boats in a commercial cargo capacity, the first in the world.

The first Jet boat, Triton, was purchased in 1996.  The ITS Commercial department was set up, and an office was also installed at Bartica that catered for passengers traveling from that location. With increasing dependency on the service, Neptune and Venus jet boats were purchased in March and December 1998, respectively.  The “ghetto” base camp at Baganara Island was set up for the
servicing of the jet boats and the trucks. A 50,000 gallon fuel-farm was installed to service both the Company’s mining department and for sale to customers.   Over the years, ITS upgraded this facility and a slipway was built by Paul Da Silva for the boats to be “dry docked” for servicing.

As with any other business the jet boat service has had its fair share of teething problems. New systems were implemented for accountability and safety, and today, we have the most reliable, safe and efficient river service in the country. With the introduction of the Jet boat service, ITS has been able to open up another beautiful part of our country. ITS is the first company in Guyana to operate the jet boat service in the interior, these boats have elevated the standards by which passengers travel in the interior locations of the Mazaruni river and the length of time of travel has decreased immensely. From Issano onwards stops are made along the way. Our 44 feet cargo boats have the capacity to transport 80 drums of
fuel at a time for sales to customers and stocking of the agents supply and to transport bulk cargo at a cheaper rate for customers.

Simultaneously, ITS was developing their trucking service to Issano. From Bartica they would operate 2 Bedford British Army Surplus trucks and a surplus German Army MAN truck. Even though the ITS department is still servicing the Mining department, over 90% of our business comes from external customers. Our service operates approximately six times per week.

ITS now consist of three departments:
•        Field Operations, which controls the movement of the boats to and from interior bases
•        Maintenance, which co-ordinates all maintenance activities
•        Commercial Department, which is responsible for trips, bookings and general administration of the  service.