Ships docked

As the cruise ship business grinds to a temporary halt and vessels continue to be denied entry into several countries, Barbados could welcome more than 15 of them, bringing in thousands of crew members, which officials are hoping would help to provide some activity in the now struggling industry.

Despite the earnings associated with this, however, the island is said to be losing hundreds of thousands of dollars as the global cruise industry comes to a standstill for several weeks in an attempt to help stop the spread of the deadly COVID-19 virus affecting the world.

Chairperson of the Bridgetown Port Senator Lisa Cummins explained that while Barbados was accepting some of the cruise ships that had been turned away from other destinations, it was also a homeport, which meant several cruises “originate and end here”.

However, without giving an exact figure, Cummins revealed that Government was sacrificing hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees and charges as it responded to a “humanitarian crisis” and deepen its partnership with cruise lines in the process.

“We had approximately 98 ship calls remaining for the season. We expected by way of mooring fees, berthing charges, that we would have been able to calculate probably around $3,300 per ship, depending on the larger vessels, coming in for the rest of the season,” said Cummins.

“We have for April alone about 158,000 passengers that were expected to disembark. That calculates into head tax revenue that has been loss. So we are talking about loss of berthing fees, loss of mooring fees as a result of the cancellation of the ships and with 158,000 passengers no longer coming here there is no head tax,” she said.

Cummins said: “We have had the ships come in because we are dealing with the humanitarian crisis. We have received a request from the ships under those circumstances for discounting berthing fees and we have allowed them to do that for one reason – because there are crew members remaining on those ships”.

She explained that the crew members had an opportunity to disembark the vessels and visit various locations and spend so that the now fighting tourism related businesses could still earn some revenue.

“That doesn’t mean that we are not bleeding because if ships aren’t coming passengers aren’t coming and we absolutely foregone hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue over the few weeks and we expect it to continue for a period we cannot specify,” she said.

Several cruise ships have been turned away from other ports in the region out of fear of the coronavirus.

While some of those ships that have docked in other countries have confirmed cases of coronavirus, local officials are giving the assurance that the ones off the coast of Barbados were free of the virus and only crew members were remaining on board.

The passengers are being flown to their respective countries on chartered flights as countries seek to get their residents home, officials said.

There were five chartered flights last night and another four on Tuesday, and officials are expecting those services to continue into next week as more ships come to the island.

There are currently seven ships docked in the waters of Barbados, four of which are in the Bridgetown Port and others off the Carlisle Bay area.

“As it stands, we expect between today and Monday just under about 11,000 passengers who we will be moving through the airport. We have a daily schedule and it changes rapidly. As it starts you will see ships in the Bridgetown Port, you will see ships in Carlisle Bay and you will see ships off shore as far north as Speightstown simply because we do not have a carrying capacity in the deep water harbour to accommodate all of them,” said Cummins.

She gave the assurance that ample testing was being carried out, stating “We now receive, every 12 hours from the ship, a medical report, which says to port health what is happening on the ship.”

In relation to cargo, Cummins said the Barbados Port was working closely with the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry to expedite critical supplies out of the Bridgetown Port.

Minister of Tourism Kerrie Symmonds urged tourism industry officials “not to be fainthearted in this difficult time”.

Stating that the ships were not docked in Barbados by accident, Symmonds stressed that it was part of island’s efforts to deepen partnerships.

“Because of that spirited partnership we have been able to be in a position where those ships that are now forced to go through a period of down time for a month or two are saying to us ‘we would like to do that down time in Barbados, would you accommodate us?’ and the answer is yes,” said Symmonds.

“Each one of them that is anchored out there without any passengers on board, but with crew, and if we have 20 or 15 such ships and the average one is carrying 1,000 crew then you have between 15,000 and 20,000 people who need to be fed, watered, provided with some form of entertainment, relaxation and recreation,” he said.

Symmonds gave the assurance officials were still maintaining the “strictest levels of diligence” and surveillance at the Port. “We will continue to maintain that because we have to make sure that we protect our citizens as best as we possibly can.”

He said having the ships docked in Barbados’ waters was “a good thing, a useful thing and a helpful thing to our tourism sector.

“And it is something that others will watch us from a distance with a degree of envy about because that 15,000 to 20,000 must now be encouraged by way of creative packages to be moving themselves around this island to experience the experiences in the tourism product to be found in [several parishes],” he said. marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb