The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE


Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE Nassau Container Port (NCP) could see an additional 200 units per week as a result of the Baha Mar project according to Arawak Port Development (APD) CEO Michael Maura who told Tribune Business that container throughput volumes were expected to ‘take off’ in October.

Speaking with Tribune Business at the official opening of the in-land freight terminal on Gladstone Road Mr Maura said: “MSC is carrying 90 per cent of the freight to that project. They expect sometime in October for the container volumes to take off on that project. We’re hearing an additional 200 units per week. What we have been seeing from the project to this point really has been along the lines of aggregate and bulk steel. There has been a benefit by way of the volumes to date but we expect the real push to come in October.”

Mr Maura said the company’s initial container throughput projections were deliberately conservative, and did not include a potential traffic increase due to the Baha Mar project.

As a result, if volumes do increase, there is the potential for NCP to actually reduce some tariff rates and still hit the annual 10 per cent minimum internal rate of return (IRR) target.

NCP’s tariffs, as per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreed with the former Ingraham administration, are designed to generate a minimum annual 10 per cent Internal Rate of Return (IRR) from its shareholders.
 “What we are doing is we want to get through the construction of the port and get things settled down. Our financial plan is very conservative in that it did not consider Baha Mar. Once we see the benefit of Baha Mar coming through and let’s say the volumes add another 15 per cent volume to the port, then there’s an opportunity for that 15 per cent to impact cost because their would be a greater number of containers to spread cost around, meaning we can lower the cost per container,” said Maura.

He added: “We have an obligation to achieve a 10 per cent return for the company, that’s not for the shareholders that’s the company, the objective being that whatever our operating income is it needs to be around that 10 per cent number. If we have a year where we blow it out of the water then our tariff rates need to come down to bring us back to the 10 per cent. If we have a year where volumes for whatever reason just dry up it also says that there is an opportunity for the port to increase rates.”

From an operational and efficiency standpoint Mr Maura said that carriers based on the feedback he had received were operating far more efficiently than before.

“I think that from my perspective and from the comments I received, they are far more efficient at the container port today,” said Maura who said the port could ‘very easily’ service the market at the current volumes and could handle twice the volume it handles now.

The APD chief executive said the Gladstone Freight Terminal was intended to act as a ‘one stop shop’ for the clearance of goods and payment of due customs duties, and added that the NCP’s single gate in/gate out was boosting both the Government’s revenue collections and aiding the fight against crime.

Tropical shipping is the largest occupant of the freight terminal, boasting a 36,000 foot bay, while MSC, Crowley, G&G, NVOs Laser Freight and Richard Shipping share a space in the Gladstone Freight Services Warehouse.

“We have Tropical Shipping here with three of the 10 bays, we have Gladstone Warehouse Services with two of the 10 bays. If anyone is interested they can come and approach us to lease some space. We are in talks with Bahamas Customs to take one of these bays to warehouse goods on a regular basis,” said Maura.