Bahamian ports face full security exercise

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Bahamian ports will face a full security drill later this year, the country's international standards compliance head said yesterday.

Senior Lieutenant Bertram Bowleg, of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF), told a seminar on adherence to the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) code: "I'm going to run a drill for the entire Bahamas, and it's going to happen this year for the entire Bahamas .

"We are going to test every facility at one time. You will get more information about it, but we will be doing that to see the state of the country if we change our security level. That's the reason why we are here because I want all of us to start thinking as a country,and not as a single entity or single facility."

He added: "So when we are looking at your facility, if it is inspected, the whole country is graded on you. If your property or facility is inspected, we are graded on your inspection, because when they do inspections it affects every one of you. So we must be thinking as friends, globally."

Citing the importance of keeping a clean record, and ensuring all Bahamian port facilities meet international security standards, Senior Lieutenant Bowleg said: "Maintaining and up-keeping information is required to be communicated in the international maritime organisation's global integrated shipping information system database.

"That is the database that I have everybody in. That is the database that we do not ever want to put in there that a facility's statement of compliance has been revoked. Once you have authorisation to go into this database, you will be able to see all of the port facilities around the world. If there is a problem with a port facility in The Bahamas then the entire Bahamas security regime would be assumed to be breached.

"That is why I don't want to put a facility on this database that their statement of compliance has been revoked, because it will affect the entire country as a whole."

Senior Lieutenant Bowleg said four more port facilities are going to be placed in the Northern Bahamas that must be taken into account for security compliance.

These include the Carnival cruise port at Sharp Rock, Grand Bahama, in addition to the reconstruction of the Marsh Harbour port.