• 235% fee income rise to fund upgrades

• COVID allows port to realise ‘a dream’

• Scanners to screen 400 bags per hour

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The three-fold greater return from home porting cruise passengers is why previously unplanned investments “make financial sense”, Nassau Cruise Port’s top executive revealed yesterday.

Michael Maura, speaking after Royal Caribbean’s Enchantment of the Seas vessel delivered two airport-grade luggage scanners ahead of the June 12 start for the cruise line’s Nassau home porting, said the port’s extra expense will be more than covered by the 235 percent increase in per passenger fees it will earn.

While Nassau Cruise Port will earn an $8.50 per capita fee from passengers transiting through the capital once the cruise industry resumes voyages from Florida, Mr Maura explained that it will receive a $10 per person fee when they both embark and disembark from their seven-day home porting itinerary.

With the necessary luggage scanners requiring a $500,000 investment, he told this newspaper: “I guess I would say that home porting was a dream. We never thought we would have a significant opportunity for home porting business because we are so close to Miami, Port Everglades and Canaveral, but COVID introduced this opportunity to us.

“Home porting was not in our original budget. We’re having to spend $500,000 on home porting equipment that was not previously contemplated. The reason it makes financial sense to us is that while we will charge $8.50 for every transit passenger, we will charge $10 per home porting passenger to both embark and disembark the ship.

“When we compare a transit passenger with a home porting passenger, it’s $8.50 compared to $28.50. It’s that additional $20 per home port passenger that pays us back for the $500,000 we’re putting into home porting.”

Mr Maura said the two airport grade luggage scanners will be complemented by two “rapid scanners” that have been sourced from Asia, and which are scheduled to arrive in The Bahamas within the next two weeks ahead of the start of Royal Caribbean’s summer home porting schedule on June 12.

The four scanners are critical to facilitating home porting by both Royal Caribbean and Crystal Cruises, the latter of which is scheduled to begin sailing on July 3, as they will enable Nassau Cruise Port to comply with both the cruise lines’ requirements and those of International Ship and Port Security (ISPS) code that was implemented in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks.

Mr Maura said the scanners, each able to screen 100 bags per hour, give the Nassau Cruise Port the ability to screen 400 bags every 60 minutes. Describing this as “quite a feat”, he added that with an average of two bags per passenger, and Royal Caribbean expecting 1,000 passengers for the inaugural voyage, some 2,000 bags will likely need to be scanned before Adventure of the Seas sails on June 12.

The Nassau Cruise Port chief said this number was expected to climb to between 1,500 and 2,000 passengers once Crystal Cruises began its itinerary on July 3, with both ships departing Nassau on the same day.

“These luggage scanners are one part of our comprehensive port security effort,” Mr Maura said, adding that they would be complemented by sniffer dogs used to detect illegal narcotics and firearms.

Pointing out that Nassau is playing a key role in getting the cruise industry “back on its feet” following the devastation inflicted by COVID-19, he added that not all passengers will fly into Nassau to join their cruise on the same day, thereby giving tourism and hospitality operators extra earning possibilities.

“From an opportunity perspective, this is the first time the country has seen home porting start,” Mr Maura said. “The question remains: How long will this last? The good news is that this is starting, and it gives us Bahamians and port operators an opportunity to show what we’re capable of. We don’t know what tomorrow brings.......”

Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, said the cruise industry - which delivered 5.4m visitors to The Bahamas in 2019 prior to the pandemic - was a key part of the Government’s plans to “ramp up” the tourism sector again.

“We know home porting passengers spend three to four times’ more than those who come just for the day,” he added. “The economic impact of home porting is substantial.”

The minister’s comments came just after an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report revealed that The Bahamas now needs to attract 28 cruise visitors to match the spending of one land-based or stopover visitor.

The multilateral lender, in its first regional “quarterly bulletin” of 2021, highlighted that The Bahamas’ increased dependence pre-COVID-19 for cruise visitors to drive the majority of arrivals growth was not being matched by a spending increase of similar proportions.

However, it suggested that the imminent start of home porting in The Bahamas by Royal Caribbean and Crystal Cruises, with potentially Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) to follow, could help boost cruise passenger spending yields.

“Cruise visitors continued to represent three-fourths of arrivals to the country,” the IDB said of the pre-pandemic tourism environment. “However, based on data on the average expenditure per tourist, it now takes 28 cruise visitors to equal the spending of one stopover visitor.

“Home porting of cruise lines could help significantly in increasing the amount that cruise visitors spend in the country, as many would spend (at least) a night in a hotel before embarking and upon disembarking. This could boost spending on hospitality, food services, and other items per cruise ship passenger, and it could also increase the overall flow of cruise ship passengers.”

The cruise industry will have been absent from The Bahamas for almost 15 months by the time Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas begins sailing from Nassau on June 12.