The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Nassau Container Port yesterday said it was back to its regular 10 weekly cargo vessel calls, after Hurricane Matthew restricted the prior week to just 20 per cent of normal volume.

Michael Maura, chief executive of Arawak Port Development Company (APD), the port’s operator, told Tribune Business that it received just solitary calls from Tropical Shipping and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) vessels prior to Matthew’s arrival.

“Ordinarily, we have approximately 10 calls per week,” he told Tribune Business. “Due to Matthew we missed two MSC calls, two Tropical calls, one Abaco Shipping call, one MailBoat Company call, and two Betty K calls.”

Mr Maura, though, said that today’s projected visits by Tropical Shipping and MailBoat Company vessels would take the Nassau Container Port back to its regular 10 cargo vessel visits per week.

He added that APD was open and operational last Sunday, so that Bahamian food stores could receive much-needed perishable goods from the MSC, Tropical and Mailboat vessels that were first to dock in Nassau following the storm.

“The ships have available capacity so there is no issue with cargo volumes,” Mr Maura said. “We were quick to receive vessels after the storm.

“Following Hurricane Matthew, we recognised that the port is an essential service, and we were out conducting the damage assessments on Thursday evening, continuing into Friday, at Arawak Cay and the Gladstone Freight Terminal.”

Mr Maura said that both the Arawak Cay port itself and the inland freight terminal sustained minor damage from Matthew. The former lost the metal panelling on the gates where trucks enter and exit, and two containers were blown over in the Category Three winds.

“The next big impact to us was on the IT front,” Mr Maura told Tribune Business. “We rely on IT services from Cable Bahamas, and only got completely back up from an IT perspective on Tuesday morning. We had been operating on a manual basis up until then.”

Mr Maura said ships calling at the Nassau Container Port this week have been carrying a higher cargo volume than normal, with their sailings indicating that Florida’s ports - especially Miami and Jacksonville - were fully operational following Matthew’s passage.

“We only utilise one shift at the port, which gives us an opportunity to add another shift if we have to, and volumes warrant it,” he told Tribune Business.

“We can easily handle the volumes coming into the Nassau Container Port, and we could easily double our business if we needed.”

Mr Maura said APD had also ensured office space at the Nassau Container Port had been made available to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), while the Royal Bahamas Defence Force had also been offered use of facilities there.