PORT PUSH
THE Bridgetown Port has undergone significant changes over the years to meet the needs of a largely consuming country.
Speaking in the Lower Chamber yesterday on a $50 million supplementary, Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy said that these changing needs, along with growth expected in the construction sector, will see an even greater demand going forward.
“We have to accept that there is a need to increase capacity. The levels of economic activity have increased and will continue to increase.”
“The reality is if you are going to have rooms under construction and rooms to be constructed and numbers growing, you need to have capacity. The physical capacity so we can continue to accommodate large cargo vessels.”
Giving an example of one of the major changes seen in the Port, Sealy noted that in 2012 -2013 there were 71 000 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units coming into the island. He revealed that number has climbed to 90 000 in 2015-16, and expects that it will continue to climb.
Sealy also stressed the importance of building out the island’s potential as a transshipment hub, which he says fits in with building a services-based economy. “Transshipment activity in the last eight years has moved from 95 000 (in) 2008-2009 to 164 000 tonnes (in) 2015-2016.”
“That is good news for a port that has never really focused on transshipment opportunities. If you look at what is happening in the region… now that we are effectively going after it in a serious way, we can benefit form the expansion of the Panama Canal and increased levels of activity in the region,” he said.
“The transshipment element is something we can work on and we must work on going forward. Berth 5 allows us to look at that as well, and see the potential that we can realise from that element.
Sealy stated that in completing Berth 5, they were also able to carry out 30 berths contained in the $64 million budget. This he said would accommodate more yachts and day-trippers, which he noted is a rapidly growing element of the tourism offering of the island.
“30 berths in the shallow draught in addition to the 30 in the inner basin of the Careenage – even though the Pierhead project is still in train – we at least have berths 60 berths that we didn’t have before that we can now in essence go after yachting tourism,” he said.
The Minister said it is fair to say that the new berth has already started to show tangible benefits in cruise, cargo, transshipment, all of which have shown growth.
“These aren’t projections. I am not predicting or anticipating or hoping. We are seeing the increases. And that is why I am so comfortable in saying this is indeed a worthwhile investment by the government and people of Barbados.” These are not times where debt is anything you should engage in lightly. So when Central Government takes $50 million, we have to be satisfied the returns are there for Barbados,” he said. (JH)