Strategies for the expansion or relocation of Cayman’s cargo port include a proposal to build a new port at Breakers as one of the most favourable options.
A strategic outline case, released publicly this week, notes that the port, which is expected to reach capacity within the next decade, can either be expanded at its current location in George Town Harbour, or a new port can be built at one of five possible sites, of which the quarries at Breakers would be the least damaging to the marine environment.
The four other options outlined in the document are Red Bay/South Sound; North Sound; East End Sound; and Frank Sound, but it notes that each of these would involve extensive dredging and impacts on the marine environment.
If a new port is to be built, Breakers was put forward as the preferred option because it “offers an excellent basin for a sheltered, deep water port”, and its excavated quarry sites are already deep enough to accommodate the larger cargo ships that the port expects to deal with in coming years, the strategic outline states.
Unlike at the other sites, the Breakers location has no marine reserves or marine parks where a channel into the site would be created, it notes.
The strategic outline case, dated February 2022, was written by Joseph Woods, the Port Authority’s former cruise and security manager and its former port director, who has retired since it was drawn up.
In it, Woods notes that building a new deep-water cargo port would likely take more than a decade to complete.
Anticipating that controversy is likely to surround building a new port at any location or expanding the existing one by lengthening the pier out further out into the George Town Harbour, the document states, “No matter where any port is situated in the Cayman Islands, there are political and environmental considerations and hurdles to be overcome.”
To stay or go?
If the port remains in situ, work would need to be done to expand the length of the pier by 300 feet and deepen the water around it to 25 feet and reclaim more of the sea to fill and convert it to land for dock storage.
“For a new port, the environmental impact is much greater,” the document notes. “It means cutting a channel and giving up natural vegetation to construct the port, or creating an artificial island in the reef protected sounds.
“To lessen that impact, the suggestion is using a location where there were quarries, because once completed, those will be abandoned as useless. Converting them into a deep water port would therefore have a much smaller environmental impact. The benefits, however, are massive. It will provide employment for decades; it will provide for Cayman’s cargo needs for multiple decades; it will enable the diversification of Cayman’s maritime economy in many more ways than is currently possible.”
Population growth impacting port capacity
The current cargo dock was built in 1975.
As Cayman population has ramped up over the years, the Port Authority, and the vessels that deliver cargo to it, have been moving closer to capacity, Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan pointed out at a press briefing on Monday.
The strategic outline case noted that every time Cayman’s population increases by 5,000, the number of containers at the port increases by 5,500.
By 2019, when the population was estimated at 69,914, the port was handling 32,836 containers. If the population increases to 100,000, that would mean the port would be dealing with approximately 65,836 containers year – which amounts to 80% of the 82,836 container capacity of the cargo ships currently calling on Cayman.
The strategic outline case is the first step in implementing the government’s redevelopment plans for the port. The Port Authority is in the process of hiring someone to manage the project and issuing a request for proposals to draw up an outline business case, that will give a more detailed proposal, and will include costings.
If the decision is made to relocate the port to Breakers or another part of the island, it will leave the existing port in George Town to be used exclusively by cruise ships.
The document also states that building a cargo port at a new site would also enable the relocation of other facilities, including the SOL, Rubis and Home Gas tank farms, currently based in George Town; thus “eliminating the risk to the residential areas in which they are currently located”. A new site may bring the long-touted plans of a mega yacht marina for Cayman closer to reality, it notes, at the Breakers site.
The cost of expanding the port at its current George Town locations would be around $25 million to $30 million for construction, and another $35 million for land, a new warehouse and mechanic shop, according to the strategic outline case.
It did not give an estimated cost of building a new port in Breakers or elsewhere, saying this would require “a lot more details than this strategic outline provides”, but noted that it would include such expenses as land acquisition, environmental impact assessment studies, consultants, excavation, filling property and buildings. It added, “However, the suggestion would be to cost it on a phase by phase basis… as it is a long-term project and the costs will vary and change during its life span”.
Read the strategic outline case here.
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The development of a Cargo Port and related facilities in Breakers makes sense, subject to an overall Development strategy which deals with the overall carrying capacity, and covers such areas as: the Environment, Zoning, Traffic Management from the Eastern Districts, rough weather calming and access to the Port in inclement weather etc. However, it makes sense, “in principle”. The George Town, Seafarers Drive, location would then be able to handle Cruise Ship tendering, and also luxury yachts, perhaps. Of course, as was the case with the proposed purpose-built Landfill and Solid Waste center that was also proposed for Breakers about 15 years ago, soon we will hear the shout “not in my back yard”. !! WE NEED A PLAN…HOWEVER.
Interesting idea but question arises – how would you transport containers to businesses in George Town or the Western end of the island, which presumably would still be the primary destination for such cargo. Bearing in mind current traffic issues, the addition of long streams of containers lorries doesn’t bear thinking about. Or is a new “dedicated” heavy goods traffic road contemplated, purely for moving stuff from the new port. Mind you, that could involve finding a new route, and acquiring and paying for land and construction…….
A bonus effect of moving the port to Breakers would be moving a number of jobs to the east end of the island. That could have a major beneficial impact to traffic and housing costs as well as areas for future development.