The Tribune

• Top financial executive: 'This is not wishful thinking'

• $600m docks 'poised to revolutionise ship repair'

• 'Booked solid' from 2025 'stretching out' to 2029

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Grand Bahama Shipyard is aiming to more than triple its annual turnover to $250m within five years, its top financial executive asserting yesterday: "This is not wishful thinking."

Linda Turnquest, its chief financial officer, told the Grand Bahama Business Outlook that the company's $600m investment in two new docks has left it "poised to revolutionise the landscape of ship repair" and exploit a market that is "not only stable but thriving".

Disclosing that the Freeport-based ship repair yard has only "a mere 90 days of" repair dock space to sell in 2024, she added that for "2025 and beyond our dock is already booked solid with firm reservations stretched out to 2029" by the cruise lines and other vessel types. And the Shipyard already has more cruise vessels booked for 2026 than the 21 it handled during its previous busiest year of 2018.

The first of the two new docks, which are being manufactured in China, is set to arrive at the Shipyard in the 2025 fourth quarter and receive its first vessel on New Year's day 2026, Ms Turnquest told the conference.

And the second, larger "mega dock" facility that is capable of accommodating the Icon of the Seas, the world's largest cruise ship, will be received in the 2026 third quarter and go into service before that year's end as the Shipyard moves to reward its shareholders for their confidence in its future prospects.

"Our shareholders' investment of $600m underscores their confidence in the future of our Yard," Ms Turnquest said, "but let me be clear. It's not a donation. It's an investment we are committed to repaying through hard work, innovation and strategic vision.

"We project that our $80m turnover today will grow to $250m within the next five years. This growth is not wishful thinking. It is grounded in the reality of an expanding cruise ship industry demand and the increased demand for LNG (liquefied natural gas) tanker dockings and repairs.

"More so, our reputation as being the most efficient ship yard in the Caribbean and on the US eastern seaboard positions us as a prime destination for ship repair and maintenance. The market is not only stable but it is thriving. In 2024, we find ourselves with a mere 90 days of repairs to sell," she continued, "a testament to the incredible demand for our services.

"Looking ahead to 2025 and beyond, our dock is already booked solid with firm reservations stretching out to 2029." And while the previous annual record for cruise ships serviced was 21, Ms Turnquest said that "I can tell you by 2026 we currently have more than 21 named cruise ships scheduled for the docks that have not even arrived yet. I think we are world class even as we wait.

The Grand Bahama Shipyard's shareholders are the world's two largest cruise lines, Carnival and Royal Caribbean, each with 40 percent equity ownership, while the Grand Bahama Port Authority's (GBPA) Port Group Ltd affiliate owns the remaining 20 percent.

Ms Turnquest said the survival of a one-dock operation was extremely rare, which is what Grand Bahama Shipyard has been relegated to for the past four years after it lost two of its three docking facilities to a combination of Hurricane Dorian and an industrial accident on April 1 in that same year of 2019.

The loss of its then-biggest dock cut the Shipyard's revenues by 50 percent, she said, adding: "Imagine this. In 2019, when we lost two-thirds of our assets and ended the year with a one-dock operation just like that. Generally, a one-dock operation doesn't survive, and that's where we are today with one dock operational."

The COVID-19 pandemic became "the third strike against us in less than a year", Ms Turnquest added. She said: "If I'm truly honest, going through this adversity challenged us as a company and caused us to come out of our proverbial comfort zone and required us to focus on getting the recipe for ship repair right.

"There was no more fudge, nowhere to hide and failure was not an option for Grand Bahama Shipyard and, by extension, Grand Bahama... With the loss of dock two (the then-largest dock), the Caribbean and east coast US were left without a dock for routine and emergency repairs for the majority of the cruise ship fleet. There are no docks in the region capable of taking the new, larger cruise ships."

Explaining why Grand Bahama Shipyard's shareholders hung in there, Ms Turnquest said: "They recognise the market going forward for the business is strong, and investing in new docks was desirable from both a business point of view and as a strategic investment to support the cruise industry."

Now, with the two new docks under construction, the Shipyard's chief financial officer hailed them as "heralding a new era of growth and prosperity for Grand Bahama Shipyard" while describing them as "state-of-the-art facilities".

The first, smaller dock, named 2XL, will have the capacity to lift ships weighing up to 93,500 tonnes and accommodate those up to 357.39 metres long. Grand Bahama Shipyard's previous largest dock could only lift 82,000 tonnes, and Ms Turnquest said: "This dock will be able to dock 90 percent of the existing cruise ship fleet in the world.

"Let me put a little nugget in there. I'm saying this smaller dock. This will be the biggest dock in this hemisphere. It will arrive in Freeport in the fourth quarter of 2025, and we will dock the first ship in it on January 1, 2026."

However, it will only be the largest until the "mega dock" arrives. That will have the ability to lift 130,000 tonnes and accommodate ships up to 413.96 metres long. Set to arrive in Freeport in the 2026 third quarter, and be in service before year-end 2026, Ms Turnquest said: "We will break our own record of having the biggest floating dock in the hemisphere where we will then have the biggest floating dock in the entire world.

"Another nugget here. With the mega dock we will be able to dock 100 percent of the current and planned cruise ship fleet." She added that the docks will "cement our status" as a leader in the global ship repair industry, as each will come with four Liebharr cranes.

The "footprint" for the new docks is already being dredged, and the $600m project will also see the installation of new mooring pilings to protect them against Category Five strength hurricanes as well as the extension of the Shipyard's existing finger pier to 722 feet. Power, water and piping upgrades are also required.

Describing the Shipyard as "a beacon of excellence in the maritime industry", Ms Turnquest said that prior to 2019 it had become "the biggest cruise ship repair facility in the world". She added that, in 2016, of the 65 cruise ship repair referrals that year, the Shipyard captured 21 or almost one-third of them while its nearest competitor gained just five.