Environmentalists are questioning the government’s plan to either expand the cargo port in its George Town location or move it to Breakers.
Shirley Roulstone, a leading member of Cruise Port Referendum Cayman, called on the government to clearly outline its plans for the cargo dock.
“I’d like to see the government make a well-informed decision about cargo and present the plans to the public,” Roulstone told the Compass. “If they’re going to ‘enhance’ the cargo port in George Town, we want to know. If they are going to move cargo to Breakers, we want to know before millions of dollars are spent and further destruction is done to either environment.”
She added, “I also wonder if the cargo port enhancement is a precursor to cruise piers in the not-too-distant future?”
CPR Cayman, whose public petition prompted a proposed referendum into plans to build cruise piers in George Town, is inactive at the moment, but may be reconstituted if the need arose, Roulstone said.
“Inactive does not mean we are not watching,” she added.
In early 2020, Roulstone challenged the then Progressives-led government’s referendum law relating to building a cruise berthing facility in George Town.
Proposed expansion plans
A strategic outline case for the port, released last month, states that it would cost about $65 million to expand the port in George Town.
No amount was mentioned for how much it would be expected to cost to build a new cargo port at the quarries in Breakers, but it would be a multi-million dollar, multi-phase project.
The strategic outline case noted that cargo companies plan to introduce larger vessels, with deeper drafts, that the current cargo piers would not be able to accommodate, and that a larger cargo facility is necessary to ensure future food security for the islands’ growing population.
Amplify: Referendum still on table
However, Amplify Cayman stated that it was disappointed that a cargo port is being considered as a solution to addressing food-security issues, saying that investing in local agricultural and permaculture projects would better deliver sustainable long-term food security for the islands.
In response to queries from the Compass, the environmental advocacy group said, “We disagree that expanding the cargo port would solve food security, and note that there is still an unheld referendum to debate whether said port should proceed as a project. We support holding a referendum to debate this issue and support the government in exploring solutions that don’t affect the ecological sensitivity of the marine environment we rely on to survive.”
Amplify Cayman says its members are “wholly against” expanding the pier at the George Town site, “as the environmental destruction caused by its construction would be greater than the benefit a cargo port would provide our Islands.”
The group added that it believed the local community was prepared to protest once again if expansion of the port went ahead, with the expected negative impacts “on waterfront businesses, a Blue Hope Spot (Eden Rock), and Seven Mile Beach”.
“Cayman has too much to lose and not enough to gain through this project,” Amplify said.
It stated that dredging in the harbour to facilitate the larger piers for cargo ships at the George Town site, and the attendant environmental effects, was contrary to the PACT government’s commitment to supporting climate-change resilience and sustainable development.
‘No proper plan’
Roulstone also noted the unheld referendum, which the Progressives administration dropped in 2020 after abandoning plans to build cruise piers at the dock when cruise ships were banned from Cayman during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reacting to a statement issued last week by the Progressives about the port plans, in which the party encouraged the government to involve cruise companies in the proposals, Roulstone said, “The Progressives are jumping all over PACT but they never had a proper plan and still don’t have one either.”
She encouraged the Progressives and PACT to “remember that the voters in this country spoke loud and clear that they wanted a voice on issues of national importance, such as the port project, and they want facts, figures, plans and supporting documentation to ensure we don’t lose more than we ever stand to gain. The voters need to be respected, not ignored.”
Roulstone said CPR Cayman was going to “wait and see what the plans actually are, and how they came up with them, and if there is data to support those plans”.
She added, “A few years ago, no cargo company was talking about bringing in larger ships here anytime in the near future. So, basically, it seems like better use could be made of the existing port and docks with a few enhancements instead of a major expansion.”
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