The Progressives opposition says the PACT government’s plans to expand or move the cargo port must take the cruise industry into account to help pay for the multi-million-dollar proposal.
A strategic outline case, released by government last month, suggests that the cargo port, which is expected to reach capacity within the next decade, can be expanded at its current location in George Town Harbour or be moved to a newly built facility, most likely at the quarries at Breakers.
The Progressives, who outlined their response to the plan to the Compass on Tuesday, called the government’s strategic outline case “flawed as it seeks an answer to the issue of cargo without addressing the question of the future of cruise tourism”.
According to the strategic outline case, it will cost at least $65 million to expand the existing site in George Town. It did not give an estimated cost of moving the cargo port to Breakers, but said it would be a multi-year, multi-phase project.
Cargo in Cayman generates revenues of approximately $18 million a year, while cruise brings in about $5 million annually.
‘Future of cargo and cruise is inseparable’
The Opposition noted that, without financial input from the cruise lines to help pay for the expansion, the Port Authority will have to increase port fees on cargo, or find new revenue, to repay financing for a stand-alone cargo dock.
“The question of the future of cargo and cruise is inseparable and cannot be viewed in isolation,” the Progressives said.
When the Progressives-led government was in power, it had pushed for the construction of a cruise berthing dock in George Town, which led to widespread opposition in the community, and almost prompted a people-initiated referendum on the matter. The COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to both the referendum and the berthing plans.
After the PACT government took over in April 2021, Premier Wayne Panton stated that his administration would not be moving ahead with the referendum as the previous government had withdrawn the cruise pier proposal.
“The whole issue is basically null and void,” Panton said at the time.
How to pay for cargo port
In their position statement, the Progressives said they had questions about the affordability of a stand-alone cargo facility.
“We are concerned, too, that the project funding and other proposals in the [strategic outline case] will come with huge costs that will drive up port fees and prices consumers pay at supermarket shelves,” the party said, while acknowledging the need for an improved and larger cargo-handling facility.
It stated that its cruise berthing plan, which included expanding the cargo port, would have provided Cayman “with a larger, modern cargo port at no direct financial cost to the country” through a public-private partnership between the government and the cruise lines.
That deal would have involved the cruise companies designing, building, financing, and maintaining the facility, with government repaying the cruise lines through a ‘head tax’ charged on arriving cruise passengers.
“However, a combination of environmental concerns, legal delays and the impact of the pandemic meant that the cargo/cruise port redevelopment, as envisaged, did not proceed,” the Progressives said.
Engaging the cruise industry
Several cruise lines have indicated that they will not tender their passengers on board their mega-ships to shore in Cayman, as it’s too time-consuming. This was one of the driving forces behind the earlier plan to build a cruise berthing pier in George Town.
The Progressives suggested that Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan and the government should be concentrating on persuading cruise lines to bring smaller ships to Cayman over the next few years and seek to have them here 12 months of the year.
“Having a walk-off/walk-on cruise pier may incentivise them to do so,” the Progressives suggested. “Involving them directly with financing and building a cargo and cruise dock, with repayment coming from cruise passenger head tax, will avoid the financing costs to the country and the need to increase port fees, and thus the cost to the consumer, to pay for a stand-alone cargo facility. And it will improve and modernise our cruise tourism product.”
The strategic outline plan has noted that, if the option of expanding the dock in George Town is chosen, it would involve making the existing piers longer and deeper, with a draft of 25-30 feet to accommodate larger cargo vessels.
The Progressives said several cruise ships that stop in Grand Cayman have drafts of 25-30 feet, so passengers would be able to walk onto the piers, rather than be transported to shore by tender boats.
It also threw cold water on the proposal in the strategic outline regarding moving the port to Breakers, saying it appeared to be so expensive the authors of the plans had not even ventured to estimate how much it would cost, and that it would have major environmental impacts.
Read the strategic outline case for the port expansion of relocation here.
Read the Progressives’ position statement here.
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