(a) The Puerto Rico Ports Authority shall transfer to the Authority any real or personal property, whether tangible or intangible, that on the effective date of this act may be under the control, lease, power, administration or use in the rendering of Ports Authority ferry services between Fajardo, Vieques and Culebra. Said transfer shall be conducted to include the service operating items which consists of the terminals, ticket booths and any facilities needed to operate the ferries and the employees who at the time operate the same. All properties and assets of any type related to said ferry services shall become the property of, or shall be taken over by the Authority, both at the island and the metropolitan levels. The procedures for transferring the operating facilities, to wit, the terminals, the ticket booths and the ferries for the service, shall begin immediately after the approval of this act. The Secretary and the Ports Authority shall exercise the necessary diligence for completing the same as soon as possible.
(b) The Authority shall be, for all purposes, the successor of the Ports Authority in all matters concerning the transferred property related to the operational phase of the ferries and the collection of accounts and payment of the obligations according to the terms thereof. It is further provided that any expenses incurred in the operation of the ferries by the Ports Authority as of the effective date of this act shall be reimbursed to the Ports Authority from the funds appropriated by the Legislature until the effective date of the transfer of the ferries or until the debt has been paid in full.
(c) The Ports Authority shall retain ownership of the docks, their repairs and the maintenance of the personnel needed to carry out this function. The remaining personnel related to the operation of the service and the ferries shall be taken over by the Authority at the island level and those that comprise the personnel of the metropolitan area shall be transferred to the San Juan-Cataño and Acuaexpreso service.
History —Jan. 1, 2000, No. 1, § 14; Aug. 26, 2004, No. 231, § 7.