The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Nassau port bid allied with the cruise lines yesterday slammed its rivals for offering “unnecessary” extras that will undermine Prince George Wharf’s “long-term viability”.

The Port of Nassau Partnership, the alliance between four cruise lines and the Bahamian investor group formerly known as Cultural Village (Bahamas), did not explain how or why the offers from Global Ports Holding and Nassau Port Partners would have this effect.

However, besides portraying their competitors’ bids as extravagant and going far beyond the Government’s requirements, the partnership’s statement also targeted the berth expansion plans submitted by one of their rivals - believed to be Global Ports Holding.

Quoting Giora Israel, Carnival’s senior vice-president of global port and destination development, the Partnership argued that its rival’s plans could potentially prevent larger cruise ships from coming to Nassau because its expanded berths would interfere with the vessel turning basin.

It also alleged that its competitor’s additional berths would be outside the area specified by the Government in the Nassau cruise port Request for Proposal (RFP), although no evidence was supplied to back-up this assertion.

Global Ports Holding did not respond to the claims before press time last night, but Colin Murphy, its business development head for the Americas, previously told Tribune Business that it aimed to add two new berths at Prince George Wharf to accommodate both the increasing number and size of cruise ships, giving the port the ability to handle up to an extra 12,000 passengers daily.

Kenwood Kerr, principal of Providence Advisors, the Bahamian investment house heading the Nassau Port Partners bid, responded simply: “The adjudicators of that will be the Government.”

While Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism, has pledged that the Government will “maintain radio silence” on its deliberations now that all bids are in, the three bidders are doing anything but.

The Port of Nassau Partnership statement indicates that, if anything, the competition between them is intensifying with efforts going to far as to bad-mouth and discredit rivals.

“The Port of Nassau Partnership is confident that it can develop an efficient port with $125m, and fears that competing bids - of $250m and $225m – which are partly unnecessary and cover areas and issues not addressed in the RFP, will likely negatively impact the long-term viability of the port,” it said.

Those values are the base investment sums projected by Global Ports Holding and Nassau Port Partners, respectively, but the Port of Nassau Partnership did not stop there in its criticisms of the rival bids.

Mr Israel, who was also described as a spokesman for the four-strong cruise line group participating in its bid, said adding additional berths was no guarantee that more ships and passengers would call on Nassau.

“Larger ships are able to offer our passengers more features, while at the same time considering the economies of scale. Indeed, more of those ships are coming, and over time they will replace smaller ships,” said Mr Israel.

“So, berth needs are staying stable or could even decline over time, while the number of passengers could grow. Our Port of Nassau Partnership proposal offers a solution to berths that is by far more rational and efficient than what others are proposing.

“The current port is far from full capacity in terms of berths, but with our new and improved berths the port could facilitate double in passenger capacity – from the current 3.6m to about 7m. So in order to facilitate peak demand days and address other concerns, our bid calls for increased capacity at the port in a better, smarter way.”

Mr Israel was then quoted as saying that a rival bidder’s berth expansion plans will “infringe on the turning basin”, and “create instability for large ships”.

He added: “The area that this bidder is proposing their pier expansion on, their plans partly overlap the turning basin in the harbour, possibly preventing the arrival of large ships to Nassau. And if that isn’t enough, the area they are designating for the additional berths is outside the area clearly stipulated by the Government’s request for proposal.”

“The cruise lines are supporting CPI (Cruise Port International, the Bahamian group) in responding to the Government’s RFP because we need the port and the destination of Nassau to work. Who can have a better motivation to support this port than a group of companies that facilitate the arrival of more than 90 percent of the port’s customers?”

The Port of Nassau Partnership statement sought to drive home the message that the involvement of the four cruise lines - Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Disney and Norwegian - meant that its bid was best placed to deliver the needed infrastructure upgrades because it had inside knowledge of what the industry requires.

“We have leaned heavily on this decades-long experience that our cruise line partners have in The Bahamas, as well as the experience they have in the region,” said Gerald Strachan, CPI’s president. “They know the customer and what it will take to bring more passengers to The Bahamas and get them off of the ships.

“They know the cruise industry and how to construct a port that is logistical. They know our port and show us what needs to be improved. They are a huge asset for informing what we will and will not implement at the Nassau Cruise Port should our bid be successful.”

Other observers, though, believe that any cruise line involvement in the ownership, management and operation of Nassau’s port represents a clear conflict of interest, not least because they will be its major customers. There is also growing suspicion that the cruise lines are determined to keep the industry’s main economic benefits for themselves, rather than The Bahamas.

The Port of Nassau Partnership said its plan involves adding one 3,000-4,000 passenger ship berth for vessels still considered a “workhorse” of the cruise industry. Its four cruise lines are forecasting that, by the end of 2020, 90 percent of the global cruise ship fleet will comprise 3,000 to 4,000-passenger ships or larger.

The offer also includes improvements to an existing mid-size berth so that a second 5,000 passenger ship can be accommodated at the Nassau port. The four cruise companies involved in the bid operate 18 different cruise lines.

“According to the cruise line group, a similar partnership approach has been successful in Venice, Italy, where major cruise companies – Carnival, MSC Cruises and Royal Caribbean – joined together several years ago with the local government and community to overcome various sensitivities and challenges in the region,” The Port of Nassau Partnership said.

“As minority stakeholders in an Italian-controlled concession, the cruise line partners were able to bring great value towards finding mutually beneficial solutions for the destination and for the cruising experience. The relationship with local authorities continues to be productive.”

It added: “The cruise industry is a global industry with passengers sourced from around the world, and with cruise itineraries destined for countries and ports around the globe. It is also a dynamic industry with overall global growth rates (69 percent) exceeding that of land-based tourism (42 percent) over the past ten years.

“That 69 percent growth rate represents an increase in demand for cruising from 15.9 million passengers in 2007 to 26.8 million in 2017. The industry impacts the global economy generating jobs, income and tax revenues in all regions of the world.

“According to Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), the cruise industry is projected to continue to grow throughout 2019 with an estimated 30 million travellers expected to cruise, up 6 percent from 28.2 million in 2018.”