The Tribune

• ‘We’re well on way to climbing out’ as IPO launches today

• Passenger volumes to reach 86% of pre-COVID in 2022

• All $244m debt financing raised for port’s transformation

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Nassau Cruise Port is handling “more cruise ships than any port in the Americas”, its chief executive said yesterday, adding that “we’re well on our way to climbing out” of COVID’s devastation.

Michael Maura, speaking to Tribune Business ahead of today’s $25m initial public offering (IPO) launch to Bahamian investors (see other article on Page 1B), said the country’s main cruise gateway was dealing with “well over” 20 vessel calls per week in comparison to the Port of Miami’s 15-16 visits.

But, disclosing that Nassau Cruise Port has taken “a very conservative approach” to its near-term performance forecasts, he added that it anticipates recovering 86 percent of pre-COVID passenger volumes in 2022 with some 3.3m persons passing across its docks.

This is projected to rise to 3.7m passengers in 2023, with both figures based on 80 percent cruise ship “occupancy” levels, bringing Nassau’s volumes back close to the 3.85m visitors seen in 2019 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Asserting that Nassau Cruise Port’s business levels are on “an upward trajectory”, the cruise port chief said the key infrastructure asset has already raised all the necessary $244m debt financing to fund Prince George Wharf’s transformation. The IPO, together with an equivalent $25m equity contribution by controlling shareholder, Global Ports Holding, is all that remains to be placed.

With $100m of marine works “already completed” to ensure Nassau can receive ever-larger cruise ships with increasing frequency, Mr Maura said the port has received more than 300 calls from transiting cruise ships (excluding home port visits) since the industry resumed sailing in June/July 2021.

“We did 14 in July, 36 in August, 48 in September, 79 in October, 93 in November and, right now, we have confirmed bookings for 110 in December,” he told this newspaper. “You can very clearly see that we’re well on our way to climbing out of a very difficult time.

“Nassau has more cruise ships than any other ports in the Americas. The Port of Miami has 15-16 a week. We’re doing well over 20 per week.” Mr Maura added that the latter figure was comparable to the 20-plus weekly calls handled by Prince George Wharf pre-pandemic.

The cruise lines, though, “still have a ways to go” when it comes to returning to the passenger numbers carried pre-COVID. The Nassau Cruise Port said most were over 50 percent loads now, having started at around 30 percent, and said: “We’re seeing occupancy numbers climb, and with each month we see more stops and the occupancy numbers increase.

“We’ve taken a conservative approach in how we see 2022. We’re looking, in the first half of the year, at about 80 percent occupancy..... We felt it was better to be conservative in our planned projections. There’s 3.3m passengers forecast for 2022.

“But in this particular case, if you look at the bookings we have today for 2022, if those ships were to sail at 100 percent occupancy we’d have over 4m passengers based on the number of ships that need space,” Mr Maura added.

“Bookings are very strong. Bookings for 2023 are higher than for 2022, but our forecast for 2022 is 3.3m passengers and, for 2023, we have 3.7m. It’s an upward trajectory. Everything is lined up for this.” Nassau Cruise Port currently has some 1,260 cruise ship bookings confirmed for 2022, a figure that rises to “close to 1,300” for the following year.

Mr Maura said all marine-related construction work will be completed by May 2022, with work on the cruise port’s arrivals building, marketplace, town centre and ground transportation hub set to finish “before the end of the year”.

Facilities such as the retail and food and beverage offering; Junkanoo museum; coral exhibition; amphitheatre will be developed in 2022, while construction on the port’s western marina and “signature restaurants” will last into 2023.

Mr Maura said the IPO’s launch had waited until construction had reached a certain stage so that the mainly-retail investor audience it is targeting could see the project was for real, and witness with their own eyes the tangible progress that has been made.

“We wanted to provide comfort and confidence in the investment,” he explained. “Bahamians can come out and see $100m worth of marine works that has been completed. That money has been spent. The industry has rebounded and we just wanted to give confidence.

“We hope Bahamians who are not savvy investors, who have not invested before, will consider investing in this project through the Bahamas Investment Fund, and we wanted to give them an opportunity to see this new wonderful development that is transforming the waterfront. We know now is the right time to do it.”

Mr Maura disclosed that “half the money” raised as debt capital had come from foreign investors, which he argued was a further sign of confidence in Nassau Cruise Port, its prospects, and those of the cruise industry and the wider Bahamian economy.

“The project has already secured 75 percent of the money needed,” he added. “We’ve satisfied our debt target, and only the $50m equity raise is left.”

Anthony Ferguson, president of CFAL, Nassau Cruise Port’s financial advisers, said that sourcing foreign investor capital had helped to relieve pressure on The Bahamas’ external reserves at a critical time in the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The original plan was, given the severe pressure on the US dollar reserves, we felt it necessary to raise some money in the international community that would go towards paying some of the US dollar operating expenses and, on top of that, we were able to raise it cheaper than government paper, so it’s a win-win for Nassau Cruise Port.”