From left: Deputy Chairman, Barbados Port Inc., Captain George Fergusson, and Managing Director and CEO of the Barbados Port Inc., David Jean-Marie look on as Chairman of the Barbados Port Inc., David Harding and Commercial Director at the Ports of Tenerife, Airam Diaz Pastor sign the Sister Port Agreement yesterday in the Barbados Port Inc conference room.
By:
Patricia Thangaraj
IF Barbados wants to increase the number of cruise ship passengers and cargo vessels that come to this island, then infrastructure at the Bridgetown Port would have to be enhanced.
In answering a question from one of the members of the media, Chairman of the Barbados Port Inc., David Harding said that in order for Barbados to reach the high levels of tourists that the Ports of Tenerife have achieved which Commercial Director, Airam Diaz, revealed was over five million tourists last year of which 1.5 million were British, they need to have the correct infrastructure in place.
“I can tell you that for us to reach that capacity, we have to put the infrastructure in place and we have started it... So we are growing our infrastructure based on the marketing ability and the response to our marketing... As we see this grow, we have to grow with the infrastructure.”
They are making headway in this regard as well as aiming to enhance yachting and they recently spent 2.5 million dollars building a 33 berth in the Shallow Draft for yachting and this year of the Golden Jubilee will be an important one for this sector as this island will get increased coverage of this yachting via Jimmy Cornell, he said, in reference to ‘Barbados 50: A Sailing Odyssey’.
It is hoped that this exposure would help to promote this island as an ideal destination for yachting, said the Chairman.
“Those of us who know geography know that Barbados being easterly and all by itself, it is a little difficult – and there is a saying that gentlemen never sail to weather – so it is a little bit difficult when beat back from the other Caribbean islands, but I have seen in my time – as a person who used to sail – I have seen in my time a huge development, but there is a lot of work still to be done.”
The Barbados Port has also spent additional money on creating more berthing space for their cargo, he stated.
“We have just spent a lot of money creating additional berthing space, we have brought new equipment... We are now capable of discharging ships at around 30 plus containers per hour. It is our ambition to further build a berth six and create the environment for further business, particularly transshipment business.”
This would hopefully lead to the benefits that Tenerife has had with their five different marinas that can handle vessels up to 45 metres in length.
“But while we are doing that, we have never lost sight of the cruise activities. That is important not only for the Port of Bridgetown, but for the economy because as a destination port, we import goods that are consumed here and obviously those goods have to be paid for in hard currency. For us to earn that currency, we have to be an attractive cruise destination where hopefully all of the cruise passengers would disembark and spend money in Barbados.”
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