TourismToday

Courtesy of The Nassau Guardian

Arawak Port Development Ltd. (APD) is completing marine works and an apron at the Arawak Cay port to operate it as an international container port, scheduled for completion by the end of 2011.

Individual mailboat services will still operate from Potters Cay Dock to accommodate boats that offer roll-on and roll-off services for inter-island marine freight transport.  The Potters Cay location will also facilitate services for local wholesale agencies to ship smaller palleted shipments to the Family Islands.  However, the Arawak Cay Port will service international container freight transportation and storage.  

The location will facilitate import and export services for larger container port services that need higher security measures because they are being transported to and from locations outside The Bahamas.

“We take our direction from the government specific to who will be utilizing the port, but it is envisioned that those carriers that operate a roll-on/roll-off service, where if there is a ship that’s going into Freeport that runs between Freeport and Nassau, and that ship is with a tractor head that’s putting the containers on the ship and taking them off, those vessels will be berthing at that break bolt terminal,” said Mike Maura, CEO of Arawak Port Development.
“This is going to be an ISPS (International Ship and Port Facility Security) port, in that the port will have to meet very elaborate international port security requirements, which extend to the vessel itself, as well as to all those persons and vehicles that have access to the port.  There is an expense associated with ensuring that your vessels comply with those requirements.  There is also an expense associated with everyone that has access to the port.”

The 40-acre development will be the new home for local shipping companies, such as Betty K and Tropical Shipping, that transport and store international freight.

“We are in the process of meeting with various architects and contractors for the erection of a 25,000-square-foot warehouse, which will be positioned on the break bolt terminal, and that warehouse will serve the needs of Betty K, Mailboat, and those types of companies,” said Mr. Maura.

The port relocation is expected to ease heavy Bay Street container traffic and allow shipping companies to operate from one location at the mouth of Nassau Harbour.  Inter-island transport ships will continue to operate from Potters Cay Dock because the security costs associated with operating at the Arawak Cay ISPS port is unnecessary for local mailboat services.

“Those ships like the Eleuthera Express that run between Spanish Wells and back to Nassau, there is no value to them having to update and improve or enhance their security requirements to comply with a port of this nature, because they are only running between Spanish Wells and Nassau,” said Mr. Maura.

“That’s really from a value perspective that the government may choose to keep them operating at Potters Cay until such time as there is another alternative available.”

Bahamas Customs will continue to operate from the 22,000-square-foot building operated by Arawak Stevedoring Ltd.  Currently 90 percent of the building is used as a warehouse and the site where Customs conducts cargo examinations.  APD will take over the Arawak Cay facility and convert it to an administrative complex.