The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Nassau businessman yesterday said his Freeport-based venture was in talks to expand into the logistics and light manufacturing sectors, moves that could more than double staff numbers and “double” the projected $10-$12 million annual sales from its already-operating distribution business.

While Vtrade Company’s existing sales were “off” initial forecasts, Robert Myers said the company was playing a “pioneering” role in developing the business model he envisioned for the venture.

Noting that Vtrade’s distribution business had been operating since November 2011, Mr Myers told Tribune Business that the company’s 20 acre site at Freeport’s Sea/Air Business Centre could easily accommodate a 400,000 square foot expansion if his plans succeeded.

“We’re looking at, and not doing anything at the moment, but are looking at a number of things within the range of our business licence from the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA),” he confirmed to this newspaper.

“Manufacturing is one of those, logistics is one of those, and distribution is one of those.”

With Vtrade’s Bahamian and Caribbean distribution business in operation for 10 months now, Mr Myers described the “second part of the business” as becoming a third-party logistics operator.

Vtrade was already acting as Bahamas Ferries’ Freeport-based logistics operator on the company’s Nassau-Grand Bahama route, handling all the cargo-related issues. The two companies were also cross-marketing on each other’s websites.

“We’re talking to a number of companies, the majority are foreign, about logistics in the Caribbean,” Mr Myers told Tribune Business. 
“We’re in discussions, some negotiations, so the logistics side is happening.

“It is very slow, because this is not a proven model. We’re pioneering in that sector, as no one is doing that in the Bahamas, apart from the likes of Pharmachem, which is doing it for its own business.”

Differentiating his operation from Hutchison Whampoa/Mediterranean Shipping Company’s Freeport Container Port, Mr Myers said that as a ‘third party’ logistics provider, his company would offer a “pick, pack and ship” service.

Using the example of a container with 100 different products or SKUs (stockkeeping units), Mr Myers said just 20 of these might be destined for a Vtrade client in Barbados.

The Freeport company would separate these products from the rest, pack them and then ship to Barbados.

Emphasising that Vtrade was designed to exploit trade agreements such as the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), which will facilitate trade with the Caribbean, and Freeport’s own ‘free trade zone’ characteristics, Mr Myers told Tribune Business: “The third aspect we talked about doing is manufacturing.

“We’re in discussions with a number of innovative systems that are related to energy conservation, construction or alternative energy. We’re looking at those types of thing.

“It has to be light industry, as the power costs are too high to do intensive industry. We’re looking at innovative products that are going to add real value to this region. That’s the key, and we’re working very hard to find these things and make sure there’s a market for them before we manufacture and distribute this stuff.”

Vtrade will build markets, and ensure demand is there, before entering the light manufacturing and logistics businesses, Mr Myers said.

Yet if Vtrade’s plans worked out, he added that the company’s workforce could close-to treble from its existing 12 persons.

“If we got into some of this light manufacturing, if that went, I think that could easily alone be another 14-15 people,” Mr Myers told Tribune Business. “They would be pretty much all Bahamian jobs.

“There’s two systems were looking at in particular, and that could result in a total of 25-30 jobs.”

Suggesting that the light manufacturing could happen towards the end of 2012, or beginning of next year, Mr Myers said: “There’s a lot of moving parts. I’ve been working on these deals for a long time.

“I believe in the logistics business, and the reason we went out on a limb for an asset and property the size we did is because we believe we can build that business.

“I could be dead wrong about the numbers, but I had to take the risk. We’ve 20 acres for expansion. We’ve got the capacity to build another 400,000 square feet on that site without any problem. We looked at that.”