Connect Caribe, a private-sector-led ferry service, is on course to begin operations in the last quarter of this year, with plans to create significant employment opportunities across the region.The announcement came during a stakeholder consultation forum at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, where Chairman and CEO Ambassador Andre Thomas briefed reporters.Ambassador Thomas confirmed that preparations are progressing as scheduled: “We have taken some significant steps. We have actually identified the ships. Obviously, the ships have to go through ship inspections, and we are much closer to determining the exact date that we would want to launch, but it’s going to be in the last quarter of this year.”The initiative, launched in January, aims to streamline maritime operations and promote trade facilitation across the Caribbean. Ambassador Thomas revealed that the project’s first phase would generate 185 jobs, with recruitment efforts already underway. “We have a recruitment fair tomorrow [Wednesday], and I think we have 450 people actually coming. So that’s good; we have already begun to interview people, and we’re going to have to do this... because it’s the headquarters, but we also have to recruit across the region as well,” he explained.