The Tribune

• Charter fee portal ‘one step forward, ten back’

• As blocked from collecting cruising permit fees

• Fear ‘confusing’ split may undermine rebound

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Association of Bahamas Marinas (ABM) president yesterday voiced growing frustration that its dream of creating a “one-stop shop” for all boating fees and permits has been halted by Customs.

Peter Maury, speaking after the Ministry of Finance issued a glowing press release on the “SeaZPass” digital payment solution created by the ABM’s partnership with the OMNI Financial Group, told Tribune Business that this portal is presently restricted to dealing with just the four percent charter fees and associated permits.

While the ministry hailed this private sector-driven solution as a critical asset in its drive to collect up to $50m in uncollected charter fee revenue annually, Mr Maury said he felt as if it was “one step forward and ten steps back” due to Customs continued refusal to allow cruising permits and fees to be collected through SeaZPass.

Confirming that Bahamas Customs wanted this channelled exclusively through its own Click2Clear platform, the ABM chief said this was contrary to the terms of the licence that initially outsourced all boating-related fee collection to the solution it had created with OMNI.

As a result, while it can collect charter fees and process related permit applications via ‘SeaZPass’ on the Port Department’s behalf, it cannot do similar for Customs. As a result, Mr Maury said the marina industry’s goal of providing a “start to finish” solution to smooth their clients’ access to Bahamian waters - particularly as the sector seeks to rebound from COVID-19 - has been placed on hold for now.

“Initially we had a licence to collect the cruising permit and fee, the charter licence and the charter fee,” Mr Maury told this newspaper. “Customs said we can’t collect for them; we can only collect the charter licence and the charter fee on behalf of the Port Department.

“That was not the way the licence was written. We wanted to deal with the whole thing from start to finish. When the customer came in, we wanted them to pay for the cruising permit, pay the fee for the charter licence, submit their documents online and get their outbound clearance sorted. We wanted a one-stop shop solution.

“We want to be able to say we’re a one-stop shop, and if you come here this is how we do it. We’re the ones that attract the boats, and we want to inform them of our COVID-19 protocols and help them with the travel visa; everything,” he added.

“Go to our website, which has all the links and tells you what you have to do to come boating in The Bahamas. It’s our sector. Our customers want to come to the marinas, spend their money and buy groceries and fuel, and have a good time in The Bahamas, bringing back some momentum to tourism so that everyone starts to find a way to come back.

“We want to make sure our guests have a one-stop shop, but when you split it up it becomes confusing. As business owners we are trying to help our guests. We want our customers to have a very easy time of it, but if we make it too difficult more may not want to pay or they will go somewhere else.”

Mr Maury said Customs also has yet to budge on its requirement that charter vessels seeking to operate in The Bahamas must now manually obtain a “commercial transire”, a shipping document normally used by cargo vessels in relation to duty payments, before they can get their cruising permit and deal with the Port Department on the charter side.

Marlon Johnson, the Ministry of Finance’s acting financial secretary, told Tribune Business yesterday that when he inquired about the “transire” issue he was informed by Dr Geannine Moss, the Customs comptroller, that this was a requirement long mandated by the law.

Acknowledging that this may not have been previously enforced, Mr Johnson did not identify the specific Act that provides this authority, but said: “I spoke to the Comptroller and her explanation is that’s not a new requirement. She said the transire is part of the law and has been there for some time.”

He added that no fee is charged in relation to the transire, although applicants still have to fill out the necessary paperwork. When asked whether the manual process represents another ‘ease of doing business’ impediment, Mr Johnson replied: “All of these things will be sorted out in time.

“We’re continuing the transition from manual to digital. We’ve engaged the SeaZPass. We are moving in that direction and teams are working to get to a fully digital process. That’s our ambition so that people are fully transitioned and online, and move away from paperwork, but it will take time to achieve that.”

Mr Maury, meanwhile, reiterated fears that the unnecessarily complex permitting/fee paying process and reliance on newly-introduced manual processes could undermine The Bahamas’ ability to exploit “a competitive advantage” created by its low COVID-19 infection rates and uniform health/border entry protocols.

With mega yachts and charter business deterred from their traditional southern Caribbean cruises by multiple pandemic entry protocols, he added that this nation has an opportunity to expand its market share, but warned: “Some of the bureaucracy ties things up and gets in the way.

“Many Bahamians cannot afford to wait for this whole system we’re doing. We have to get going. It should be a co-operative effort from private business with government departments, but too many people want control over one item and that’s a crucial part of the puzzle.

“If you cannot get a cruising permit and transire you cannot come to the marinas, and we have 10,000 Bahamians sitting here and waiting. We just need to get clearance from Customs. Once we have that everything will flow.”

Mr Maury continued: “This is the time when we need to all come together and make a concerted effort..... Now is not the time to let the bureaucrats be in charge and slow things down too much. We’re losing sight of the goal. In my opinion, we get too involved in paperwork and unnecessary processes rather than getting the tourism industry started and people back to work.

“Whatever part we have to play we’re willing to do. Let us operate. I’m not saying it unreasonably. We understand the protocols and have explained it to our industry partners. They understand them, and that’s why they want to come to The Bahamas because we have much lower COVID-19 infection rates than countries around us. Let’s not work against each other.”