‘New bill could trigger reversal of fortune for shipping industry’

Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs Minister Kirk Humphrey has predicted a “radical turnaround” in the fortunes of the shipping industry as he introduced changes to the legislation governing the industry in the House of Assembly.

As lawmakers took up the Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic Bill, Humphrey contended that there were areas in shipping that had been neglected by previous administrations.

He told the House: “Shipping was tied to tourism under international transport and so a number of areas in shipping that should have been addressed were not addressed.

“What we saw was that the former government predominantly in the last few years and other governments as well did not pay attention to shipping in the way that we should have paid attention to shipping and as a consequence, we found ourselves behind in areas that we really should not now be behind in.

“So that is why over the next few weeks, months, years, you will see a radical turnaround in the legislation that governs our shipping industry, you will see Barbados taking a stance internationally in shipping and being recognized as a shipping nation of worth and value over the next few years.”

The minister explained that the importance of shipping was made all the more obvious by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Humphrey said: “COVID should tell us that we now really need to think about shipping because during the height of COVID and even now, but certainly at the beginning of COVID, the disturbance in shipping and supply chains meant some countries could not even get food or vaccines.

“During the height of COVID many of us could not get access to these things and the consequence of that is that we have seen in shipping an exponential increase in the cost of things. So if you do not understand shipping understand that the food you eat is going up because of issues in shipping.”

The minister said there was a need to correct the island’s shipping legislation and the ship registry, adding that the current legislation which guided domestic shipping also guided international shipping.

That legislation was now being separated, he said.

The blue economy minister suggested an upgraded ship registry could bring more revenue into Barbados.

“The ship registry currently has a few ships on it. It’s been doing very well to a certain extent but I feel like we need to do more, get more ships registered with Barbados because it has the potential to generate a significant amount of revenue for Barbados,” Humphrey said.

“We get the ship registry right we can generate so much more revenue for Barbados.”
(RB)