The Tribune

• Says govt agencies not adapting to digital era

• ‘Buy in’ vital to eliminating boater paperwork

• As ‘buzz’ increases over Spring’s bookings

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Association of Bahamas Marinas (ABM) president yesterday said this nation could enjoy “huge benefits” if government agencies end their resistance to online payments and filings.

Peter Maury, disclosing that there were indications boating traffic may be redirected to the Bahamas this Spring because of COVID-19 rules complexities in the southern Caribbean, told Tribune Business that he and his clients were encountering significant “push back” from the Port Department and Customs when it came to going digital.

The former is responsible for collecting charter fees, and the latter cruising permits, but Mr Maury said several “trial runs” had revealed the Port Department, in particular, is still requiring boaters and captains to physically present themselves and fill-in volumes of paperwork despite the existence of online facilities that enable such processes to be completed electronically.

He added that public sector “buy in” was vital for the government’s digital transformation to be effective, and the ‘ease of doing business’ to improve, while facilitating increased revenues for the Public Treasury and greater boating/yachting business that ultimately boosts economic activity and employment at “street level”.

“If we can just get the Port Department on board with online charter fees, and Customs on board with cruising permits, it would be huge,” Mr Maury told this newspaper. “The portal’s up and running but we’re getting so much push back from the Port.

“They want to come up with reasons why they want to much paperwork, and it’s such a simple process. They’re definitely pushing back on online. All forms are electronic. If we can just get the bureaucrats to agree and push it ahead, there’s no reason why these boats will not move into The Bahamas and do business.

“It’s so easy. The Health Travel Visa is so simple and so easy. If we can do that with yachts for the payment of fees, the maritime industry will see huge benefits and the government will see huge benefits in our Treasury,” the Marinas Association chief continued.

“We’ve done a couple of trial runs, and the Port still wants individual forms filled out [manually]. It takes what’s so easy electronically; they want all this paperwork and you have to fill everything. The yachts said they might as well do it the old way and go in there.

“We have to get beyond that. The system of payments online, and being less reliant on in-person visits and more reliant on online payments, that would be huge. We’re getting a lot of push back from the Port. We’re having our difficulties getting it implemented. Some of the civil servants don’t have the buy-in for whatever reason. But it helps the flow of business and we need to have it.”

Tribune Business’ efforts to obtain comment from Lieutenant Commander Berne Wright, the Port Department’s acting controller, and Customs proved fruitless yesterday despite multiple phone calls. Mr Maury, while backing Dr Hubert Minnis’ digital transformation effort, said the resistance to change in some agencies was “unfortunate” and threatening to undermine potential economic benefits.

With the potential threat of a mandatory US quarantine for returning travellers now lifted, and The Bahamas’ five-day COVID-19 testing regime and Health Travel Visa facilitating the smooth re-entry of boaters, the ABM president said this nation could enjoy “a big positive” due to the multiple health protocols the industry was encountering elsewhere in the Caribbean.

With The Bahamas able to offer multiple different island experiences under one COVID-19 regime, Mr Maury said: “Boats are relocating to the Bahamas for Spring. It’s just in potential bookings, and we don’t know 100 percent until they show up, but the biggest thing is a lot of brokers are talking about it.

“That seems to be the buzz. With our travel visa online, and people being able to use tests to go back and forth, it seems to be a simple way to do things. By all accounts if it happens, and I’m not saying it will, because things may change between now and then, we’d be able to accommodate those boats and having no mandatory US quarantine seems to be to our benefit.”

Mr Maury said there were several 100-foot “super yachts” moored near downtown Nassau’s John Alfred Dock that had not made their normal cross-Atlantic trips, or journeys to the southern Caribbean, and which represented “huge business for The Bahamas”.

He explained that they were purchasing food and fuel locally, with their presence and The Bahamas’ enabling COVID-19 testing regime allowing the benefits to filter down to “street level with people shopping in the stores, renting homes and going to the Out Islands rather than sitting in big hotels”.

Describing the testing regime as “perfect”, Mr Maury added: “It’s just rolling along. I’m happy.”