By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis highlighted Royal Caribbean’s efforts to minimise the impact its fleet has on the environment during a ceremony yesterday that celebrated the cruise company’s newest ship, Odyssey of the Seas.

The vessel is the first quantum ultra-class ship in North America and it features a number of amenities.

Erin Brown, a disability rights activist and the first Bahamian para-triathlete to compete in the Paralympic Games qualifiers, was recently named godmother of the ship.

During yesterday’s ceremony, Mr Davis said: “I believe that if we take care of the ocean, the ocean will take care of us. Safe and sustainable development is priority number one.

“There is much concern in the international arena about the cruise and shipping industry’s contributions to climate change. As my administration fosters growth within these industries, we must also pay heed to the existential threat that rising sea levels pose to us as a low-lying ocean state.

“I am particularly impressed by the measures that Royal Caribbean has taken to minimise the environmental impact of its fleet. According to the available literature, the Odyssey of the Seas has two emissions purification systems, removing 98 percent of sulphur from emissions and reducing nitrous oxide. It is fully compliant with the International Maritime Organization’s NOx Tier 3 standards, significantly reducing the ship’s environmental footprint.

“My administration has fully committed to the development of the Blue Economy as a high priority item on our agenda - with all the implications that has for increasing employment, generating wealth, and expanding opportunities.”

Officials yesterday stressed Royal Caribbean’s commitment to helping small businesses in The Bahamas succeed.

Samantha Rolle, director of external affairs at Access Accelerator, Small Business Development Centre, highlighted a pepper sauce initiative.

“It’s really a pilot programme to showcase Bahamian vendors who produce and manufacture their pepper sauce and to give them an opportunity to showcase that as a part of a pilot programme on RCL’s cruise ship,” she said. “So what we’ve done, we’ve started with a cohort of about 13 vendors and throughout the process eliminated some vendors based on certain things, requirements and standards such as being export ready, and today what was so amazing is we had three amazing, ready to go, successful entrepreneurs, vendors who were able to showcase their products for the passengers on board the ship, but also for the local delegates that were here for the ceremony.”

RCL President and CEO Michael Bayley said the winner of the pepper sauce competition will now supply their hot sauce to Royal Caribbean’s guests.

“What we’re trying to focus on now is connections within the business ecosystem,” said Davinia Bain, executive director of SBDC. “You have small businesses that need to be connected with medium business and medium businesses which need to be connected with larger businesses. And so it’s not that easy as a small business person to get in direct contact with the buyers from some of these larger businesses. When we talk about being the access accelerator, a lot of people believe that’s access to funding. It’s really access to opening doors to expand your business. We used our relationship with RCL in the same way that they had hoped we would. They wanted better access to small businesses and we have quite a number of them and so we just created the tie-in.”