The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas will “capture a treasure chest of data” to help expand its boating market and plug up to $50m in annual revenue leaks via an online portal developed by a private sector joint venture.

Harvey Morris, the Omni Financial Group’s chief executive, told Tribune Business that the SeaZPass digital payments solution constructed in partnership with the Association of The Bahamas Marinas (ABM) will enable both the government and private sector to better understand “this potentially lucrative industry” and the demographics/interests of those in it.

The SeaZPass online portal will facilitate the payment of four percent charter fees once those vessels enter Bahamian waters, with these funds passed on to the Port Department in a bid to cut down on what the government believes is an area that produces significant revenue losses and leakages.

Disclosing that Omni has been working on the digital solution since March 2020, Mr Morris disclosed: “We did the soft launch in December 2020. This was something the ABM has been working with the Government on, approaching the Government to do, for the last 20 years....

“One challenge the industry has with charter fees is remitting the funds to government. You may have a broker in France that has arranged the charter of the vessel, collects that money, and then they have to make sure they report that to the Government along with supporting documents.

“Prior to the implementation of the portal that was a bit difficult to do. The yacht companies can now go to the portal, put in the information, upload the charter contract and make payment. They will be issued with an official receipt that can be verified by the authorities,” he continued.

“It’s simplifying the process, and the benefits you will get from it, in due course the ABM and the Government will have access to some very valuable data to help them to continue to expand this potentially lucrative industry. This information is going to be available at the touch of a button. We’re uploading all the data electronically.”

Mr Morris said SeaZPass’s ultimate goal was to ensure all incoming boats and charters to The Bahamas made their due fee payments, and provided the necessary filings, via one electronic portal instead of having to “go from agency to agency” and repeat the process.

Christine Sands, Omni’s chief operating officer, added: “When you think about what is happening now, especially with the pandemic, and identifying where revenue leakages are and having to recoup them, this is an ideal and fantastic opportunity to identify areas that bring income and revenues to the Bahamian people.

“This digital age, and that information you can pull off the portal, is a priceless amount of data; a treasure chest of data. The Government doesn’t have a full understanding of how much money is out there and the information they can capture from this portal is going to be great.”

Omni said it will also enable visiting boats and yachts to pay for supplies from local merchants via the Sand Dollar, the Bahamian digital currency.

Kwasi Thompson, minister of state for finance, said of SeaZPass in a statement: “This development is extremely significant as we have traditionally seen a lot of revenue leakage in the charter operator space.

“As a government we are strengthening our enforcement mechanisms while we are also enhancing the ease of doing business. Now, charter operators have no excuse. We have a convenient online solution for the payment of fees due to the Government for their commercial operations in our waters.

“The potential revenue yield from charter operations is tremendous. The Ministry of Finance estimated there is about $50m in uncollected revenue from this boating segment, and in keeping with the Government’s commitment to strengthen tax collection and enforcement for existing taxes we have accelerated our digital transformation efforts to make this happen.”

Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, added: “The new platform with Omni/ABM will help to increase boating traffic and economic activity at a time when the country badly needs it. We have managed the spread of COVID-19 and our travel policies create a safe and attractive environment, so charter operators are clamoring to send business to The Bahamas.

“Boats that would typically be cruising around Europe and other tourism hot spots are now parked around the US east coast, and The Bahamas is the natural best place for them to get away.”

Commander Berne Wright, acting port controller, said: “Via the agreement between the Ministry of Finance, Omni Financial Group and the Association of Bahamas Marinas, charterers that wish to engage in foreign yacht charters throughout The Bahamas now have the opportunity to submit charter fees online.

“We acknowledge the capacity for revenue increase via the online payment method, and we are committed to providing registration and licensing processes which will further the ease of doing business at the Port Department.”

Peter Maury, the ABM president, said: “This is the start of our collaboration as we are currently working with the Ministry of Finance and relevant agencies to introduce online payment and processing for charter licenses, cruising permit and fishing licenses at a later date.

“We attended a boat show in Florida last week to introduce the charter fee online portal, and the boating community was very relieved to see progress is finally being made with the Government’s various digital solutions.”