By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Freeport Container Port saw its year-over-year operating income more than double in 2012, its majority owner has revealed, increasing by 137 per cent on the back of rising shipping container volumes.

Hong Kong-based conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa, in its newly-released 2012 annual report, disclosed that shipping container throughput at its Grand Bahama-based facility increased by 8 per cent year-over-year for the 12 months to end-December.

While shipping container throughput increased to 1.202 million twenty-foot equipment units (TEUs) last year, Hutchison Whampoa also disclosed that the Port benefited from a rise in average tariffs.

“Freeport Container Port, on Grand Bahama island, reported a throughput and EBIT (earnings before interest and taxation) growth of 8 per cent and 137 per cent, respectively, mainly due to additional services for transshipment operation and higher average tariff in 2012,” the Hutchison Whampoa annual report revealed.

The Hong Kong-based conglomerate owns a majority 51 per cent stake in the Freeport Container Port, and the 2012 performance represents a major turnaround on the year-before results.

Then, container throughput volumes declined by 1 per cent to 1.116 million TEUs, with earnings before interest and taxation dropping by 47 per cent due to a fall in cargo volumes bound for the US east coast.

That related to a decision by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the Freeport Container Port’s major customer, to route its shipping via other ports, but the 2012 figures indicate that the Grand Bahama-based facility has more than recovered the ground lost the year before.

Ian Fair, the Grand Bahama Port Authority’s (GBPA) chairman, said as much earlier this year when he announced that the Freeport Container Port was “steadily approaching its pre-2008 numbers”.

This, he added, had resulted in the creation of more than 50 new jobs.

The position on Grand Bahama is also looking somewhat brighter for Hutchison Whampoa’s hotel interests, namely the Grand Lucayan.

The company’s 2012 annual report described “an improvement in the results from operations in the Bahamas” in its section on hotels and property, no doubt a reference to the Grand Lucayan.

The hotel’s turnaround could be in process, with the Government set to make a decision on who will replace Treasure Bay as its casino operator when it departs at the end of this month.

And Hutchison Whampoa’s agreement with Canadian tour operator Sunwing, a division of world-leader TUI, and its Blue Diamond Resorts brand to re-open the 400-room Reef property by Thanksgiving 2013 is slated to create 1,000 permanent jobs. Some 250-300 construction workers will also be required to upgrade the property.

Meanwhile, Khaalis Rolle, minister of state for investments, announced in the Budget debate that another ‘major’ hotel group had offered to re-open and manage the Grand Lucayan’s 192-room Lighthouse Point property.

“There is a major hotel group that has offered to open and manage the Lighthouse facility at Grand Lucayan. This is the sister facility to the Reef resort,” said Mr Rolle.

“That proposal is currently being reviewed by the management of Hutchison in Hong Kong. The group that made the proposal has tremendous group business activity. We are very excited about that.”