Port to expand or move as it nears capacity

Government is planning to expand or move the cargo port in George Town as it nears capacity, Tourism and Transport Minister Kenneth Bryan has announced.

Speaking at a press briefing on Monday morning, Bryan said the capacity at the cargo port, which handles 95% of all imports into Cayman, is “currently stretched” – an issue he warned would become “more acute over time”.

Expansion of the cargo port was part of the discussions by the previous Progressives administration on the now-aborted plans to build a cruise berthing dock in George Town. There was so much opposition in Cayman to building a cruise pier in the harbour that it almost prompted a people-initiated referendum before the government announced in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 that it was abandoning plans for the berthing pier.

The current PACT government has vowed that it will not pursue any plans for a cruise pier.

Bryan acknowledged that expanding the current cargo dock in the George Town Harbour was one of the options mentioned in a strategic outline case on the proposed project.

“The strategic outline case … has suggested having to expand [the cargo dock] out into the water,” he said, adding that this was among several options given, including moving to a new location elsewhere on island.

Noting that building a larger dock in the George Town Harbour is likely to be controversial, Bryan said the government was starting the process of gathering information about how to solve the cargo capacity question now “so that an informed decision can be made to resolve this pending problem”.

He noted that it could take up to a decade before this was resolved, but the time was right to address this.

“I know this is going to be a very sensitive topic,” Bryan said, adding, “The right thing to do is talk about it now, so we understand it is no longer about cruise passengers. It is about being able to feed our children and ourselves and our people; hence, the reason I want to get ahead of it.”

The port area in the George Town Harbour pulls double duty, acting as the site where passengers arrive and depart on days when the cruise ships call here, and then from 6pm until 5am, it is used as a cargo dock.

The minister stated that the main driver behind the port expansion plan is ensuring food security for Cayman, an issue that was highlighted during the pandemic.

“We have to be able to feed our people. We don’t have a large agricultural component here”, he said, adding he wanted to “let people know the importance of [the port expansion]”.

Two outline cases

Cabinet has accepted a strategic outline case on the project and has given approval for an outline business case to be carried out by the Port Authority, which will hire a project manager and engage with independent financial experts to help draw up that case report.

Bryan noted that the strategic outline case put forward options for government’s consideration, while the outline business case will be completed by financial experts who will lay out how to move forward with the plan in more detail, including the costs.

The strategic outline will help government “to determine which options are feasible, affordable and worth pursuing,” he said.

Tackling growing demands

The minister noted that the port will need a larger capacity to deal with Cayman’s “growing economy and population”.

But he also said cargo vessels currently using the port are nearing the end of their lifespans and are being replaced with larger and wider vessels, which the cranes at the port cannot handle.

“The booms of the cranes that are currently used are not built structurally to be able to lift containers across the span of the ships,” he said.

Another problem is the larger ships need a deeper draft than exists where they currently berth, the minister said.

Bryan stated that once the Port Authority recruits a project manager, the next step involves issuing a request for proposals seeking financial consultants to draw up a draft outline business case. Once this is completed, a public consultation process will be carried out.

He added that it was possible the outline business case may suggest a ‘do nothing’ approach, which he said he would not support.

The strategic outline case, which has already been approved by Cabinet, will be released this week on the Ministry of Tourism’s and the Port Authority’s websites, Bryan said, possibly as early as Tuesday, 14 Feb.