By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Another Nassau cruise port bidder declared its hand yesterday by pledging the facility’s $225m transformation into the “Gateway to the Caribbean” under majority Bahamian ownership.

Nassau Port Partners, the group headed by Bahamian investment house Providence Advisors, promised that all Bahamian businesses, employees and self-employed persons relying on the cruise industry would benefit from its proposal to redevelop Prince George Wharf.

Kenwood Kerr, pictured, Providence Advisors principal, told Tribune Business last night: “We’re anticipating that it will be majority Bahamian-owned. It’s transformational, and we’re the better group.

“It’s wide participation of Bahamian ownership, rather than concentrated ownership in the historic set of hands. And it’s more than just Bahamian ownership. It’s actual participation in economic activity through the port.

“Through the project, taxi drivers, artisans, hair braiders, straw vendors, surrey drivers, even the downtown merchants - everybody wins.”

Unveiling four other entities participating in the Nassau Port Partners bid, the group said its proposal calls for the development of “a park at the pier” by the entrance to Prince George Wharf, along with better links and passenger flow to take visitors into Bay Street and wider downtown Nassau.

“As the cruise industry trends toward larger ships accommodating 4,000-plus passengers, it has created a growing demand for ports of call with a pier structure to facilitate the rapid offloading/loading of passengers without tenders,” Nassau Port Partners said.

“The greater numbers of passengers visiting foreign ports are fuelling the need for improved passenger experiences,and enhanced and varied cruise itineraries. Currently, the port of Nassau is the busiest transit port in the Caribbean but has, over the past 50 years, struggled with portraying a ‘sense of place’ and providing a memorable experience for cruise guests with a great sense of arrival.

“Nassau Port Partners will re-establish Nassau as ‘The Gateway to the Caribbean’, with a dedicated pier park at the pier, open to the city and linking it with the revitalisation and expansion of the downtown shopping and historical walking experience,” it continued.

“Our consortium will set a goal with our redevelopment to add value to the whole of the city, and develop a mixed-use land plan to rebrand the destination. Nassau Port Partners’ priority is to develop a berthing plan to accommodate the larger ships with safety and efficiency as paramount objectives, yet allow for enough landside space to make the guest experience enjoyable for the arriving passengers, local guests and residents of The Bahamas.”

Besides giving Nassau’s cruise port a distinctly Bahamian identity, Nassau Port Partners - echoing the rival bid from Global Ports Holding - said it planned to enhance berthing capacity and the distribution of passengers throughout downtown with the goal of raising per capita spending yields.

Promising the group’s commitment to delivering the “optimum port experience”, Nassau Port Partners said: “In order to benefit both the guest experience and the impact on local businesses, Nassau Port Partners have proposed a series of both local transportation initiatives and ‘out lying’ experiences to help distribute guests throughout New Providence and the islands.

“These transportation initiatives would also be available for use by the local community. Our continuous aim will be to deepen the economic participation of the many micro, small, medium-sized Bahamian businesses, including the taxi drivers, tour boat operators, straw vendors, local craft artisans, surrey drivers and entertainers, and many others that would fit the new vision of our destination port.

“The key to a successful port is one where it reflects a sense of place and local culture, is treated as part of the locale, open to all, and not set behind gates and walls for the exclusive benefits of the users.”

Besides Providence Advisors, which touted itself as representing 45,000 Bahamian pensioners, largely through its administration of the hotel industry pension funds, the consortium includes Metro Cruise Services as the port-operating entity.

Metro, headquartered in Long Beach, California, was billed as managing 12 ports on the US east and west coasts, including Port Everglades, Boston, Bayonne, Mobile, Galveston, Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Francisco, San Diego, Catalina Island, Santa Barbara and Seattle.

“Metro received the ‘Port of the Year’ award by Princess Cruises when they previously operated the Los Angeles World Cruise Terminal with volumes exceeding one million passengers annually,” Nassau Port Partners said.

Also involved is PND Engineers, a marine engineering firm said to specialise in cruise ship industry infrastructure, and which expanded into the Caribbean in 2016 with the Harvest Caye project for Norwegian Cruise Line.

IDEA Inc is the planning and design component, and Nassau Port Partners said it has received awards for Jamaica’s Historic Falmouth cruise attraction and Tortola Pier Park.

“IDEA has provided strategic planning services for Royal Caribbean, Disney and Norwegian Cruise lines, and acted as an owner’s representative on port projects in the Caribbean, Alaska and Asia,” Nassau Port Partners said.

Finally, Nassau Port Partners named US-based investment bank, Bazarian International Financial Associates, as its financial advisor in raising the necessary project financing, asserting that it had “a proven track record” in The Bahamas, Caribbean and Central and South America.