Floating bookshop sets sail for Montego Bay
published:
Wednesday | April 9, 2008
Visitors look through books displayed for purchase on the 'Logos II' at the Caribbean Cement Company pier in 2006. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer
The international floating bookshop, MV Logos II, is set to return to Montego Bay from April 12 to 27, after a four-year absence.
During its last visit to the Second City in 2004, more than 52,000 persons boarded the ship over 12 days. This time around, the ship will dock at the Montego Freeport Wharf for 16 days and the owners and operators of the bookshop, Educational Book Exhibits Limited, are expecting about 70,000 persons to visit the ship this month.
This will be the sixth visit to Jamaica by the Logos II. During its last visit to Jamaica in 2006, the boat docked at the Cement Company Pier in Kingston for 23 days when 70,000 Jamaicans from across the country formed long lines dockside to buy a wide variety of books at below cost prices. However, the largest crowd recorded so far was in 2004, when 101,000 persons boarded the boat in Kingston over a 31-day period.
Successor delayed
In 2006, the operators of the Logos II announced it would have been taking the ship out of commission and replacing it with a larger vessel, Logos Hope. However, the launch of the new boat has been delayed until later this year.
"In the meantime, we have a large surplus of educational literature both on board and stored in our warehouse, so we decided to make those resources available to the people of the Caribbean region," said Sonja Voelkle, project coordinator for the Logos II visit to Montego Bay.
Logos II has been sailing in the Caribbean since January, having made its first call at the port of Hamilton, Bermuda, late February. From there the floating bookshop moved to The Cayman Islands, from which it will sail to Montego Bay.
The ship carries an extensive catalogue of 4,000 books covering such categories as children, sports and hobbies, novels, dictionaries, atlases, college textbooks, Bibles and Christian literature. Over the past 38 years, since Logos II and her sister ships Logos and Doulos were launched into service, the vessels have visited more than 145 countries, called at about 1,200 ports, provided more than 178 million books for sale and welcomed 36 million visitors on board.
LOGOS II itinerary
Logos II will be in Montego Bay from April 12 to April 27
The Logos II will be open to the public Tuesdays to Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and on Sundays from 2:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Entrance fee will be $50 per person, but children under 12 years who are accompanied by an adult will enter free.
A 70-member crew of volunteers - representing more than 20 different nations - will be on board. Each volunteer - including the ship's captain and officers - is financially sponsored by friends and family and does not receive pay during their time on board.
