By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Foreign shipping carriers are continuing to “snoop around” and explore whether they want to enter the Nassau freight market, with Maersk facing some potential competition.

Michael Maura, chief executive of BISX-listed Arawak Port Development Company (APD), told Tribune Business that another shipping carrier had spent the last two months assessing whether to launch services to Nassau.

“We have had some interest on the part of Sealand, a subsidiary of Maersk,” he said. “And there’s been another carrier that, over the last eight weeks, has been snooping around. We do have carriers snooping around.”

APD executives revealed last year that Maersk, the world’s largest shipping line, had made preliminary inquiries in a bid to seemingly ‘sound out’ operational and market conditions in Nassau.

Mr Maura last week explained that APD was leaving one ‘bay’ vacant at its headquarters building, the Nassau Maritime Centre, situated at Arawak Cay, in case another shipping carrier decided to consummate its interest in serving the Bahamas.

“We have a bay that is available, but we are essentially kind of holding that back in the event we have another large foreign carrier that decides it would like to call on Nassau,” Mr Maura explained.

The Nassau freight market has essentially consolidated into a duopoly since the 2008-2009 recession hit, with shipping lines such as Crowley or Atlantic-Caribbean Line either withdrawing from the market or shutting down altogether.

This has left Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and Tropical Shipping as the major players, although others such as Betty K have established themselves as major niche performers.

Apart from APD, the Nassau Maritime Centre’s tenants include Bahamas Customs, the Department of Environmental Health Services, MSC, Tropical Shipping, Tycoon Management and Arawak Stevedoring Ltd.

Meanwhile, Mr Maura said APD’s Board had encouraged management to again reach out to the Government and see if the BISX-listed company could play a role in the development and management of other Bahamian ports.

“We had a Board meeting last week,” he revealed, “and we looked at that again. I was encouraged in that the Board had suggested we make another approach to the Government.

“We are going to be moving ahead with that to see how we can help develop the country’s maritime infrastructure.”

Mr Maura added that APD expected to complete construction of its break bulk terminal building by January 2016, allowing Betty K to take up occupancy and move from its temporary rental office accommodation at the House of Mosko on Bay Street.

He added that the building would also house a canine (K-9) unit, featuring dogs specifically trained to detect illegal drugs, firearms and smuggled cash.

“That unit will be operating 24/7 from the new facility in the New Year,” Mr Maura said. “It’s critical.

“The reality of our business is that as much as we are one of the most efficient and productive ports in the region, and 98-99 per cent of cargo coming through our bulkhead is legitimate, the criminals also use these facilities.

“We have the risk of guns, smuggled drugs, money to pay for those drugs - laundered money - coming across our facility as cargo. We have to capture that element while it’s on port property, and not allow it to find its way on to the street.”

Mr Maura, meanwhile, said Bahamas Customs had introduced a security surcharge with effect from July 1 this year.

The charge is $10 per Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) and vehicle imported or exported, and the APD chief emphasised that it was a Customs charge, not APD’s.