By FAY SIMMONS

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

DISNEY Cruise Line is set to hire 170 full-time Bahamian staff from September 20223 onwards after "more than tripling" the projected number of initial employees.

Joseph Gaskins, the cruise line's regional public affairs director for The Bahamas and Caribbean, speaking on its Lighthouse Point project at the Eleuthera Business Outlook conference, said: “Our Heads of Agreement said that we would have 120 employees on the site at a ratio of 80 percent Bahamians to 20 percent foreign workers.

"Foreign workers are important because a lot of what we're doing on the site, we could not find the necessary skill sets in The Bahamas, typically on the marine side work. But here's what we've been able to do. We've more than tripled the number of initially projected employees. We're floating between 70 percent and 80 percent as it relates to the ratio of Bahamian workers. We continue to go out there and search for Bahamian workers to meet our needs.”

He added: “But we also talked about BTVI and the fact that we don't have people who can do certain things on the site. We're engaging in thousands of hours of training on that site, free training all our crew on that site. So, when they leave our site, and billions of dollars of investment comes to Eleuthera, they are leaving with the qualifications to take advantage of those projects.”

Leslie Lopez, Disney Cruise Line's human resources manager for Bahamas recruitment, revealed the company is set to hire an additional 170 Bahamians between September 2023 and January 2024.

He said: “So, even though Lighthouse Point is a year away from opening, we’re set to hire at least 170 Bahamians in roles such as recreation, safety and security, island services, office operations and payroll, maintenance and human resources.

"So we plan to do this over the months between September and January. We want to have information sessions for the public to attend. Once January starts, we hope to bring on a small group of employees who can start training and development for opening in June [2024]."

Mr Gaskins stated about 50 percent of the pier, where Disney's cruise passengers will disembark, is complete. The cruise line is constructing an open trestle pier to avoid dredging. “We have buildings in the ground. So, about 50 percent of the pier has been completed, but upland works on over 100 buildings and self-sustaining utility grids are on track to finish on schedule. So, we are moving forward," he said.

"Oftentimes, when you hear cruise ports are coming, the first thing people say is dredging. They're going to dredge. We are not dredging anything. We've decided on an open trestle pier for this site in order to prevent dredging. This also allows the fish in the water and the sand to move through the trestles, and the location of the pier has been based on scientific assessment of the ocean. Our Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) took more than two years to complete.”

Mr Gaskins also stressed that Disney Cruise Line is ensuring they protect the biodiversity at Lighthouse Point and the marine ecosystem. He said: “We have not completely scraped Lighthouse Point either. We've not cleared that entire environment, and we have surgically kind of cleared these areas instead of going directly over the top in order to maintain the biodiversity of this site.

“We continue to monitor the marine terrestrial ecosystem. We've actually been facilitating additions to coral by planting new coral out there, moving that forward and ensuring that they're remaining healthy. We have taken all the viable individual corals and expertly relocated them."

“We're engaging with the construction staff. We have regular meetings with them, ensuring that they're following protocol. And we're planning a really interesting interaction for both community and our guests on that site focused on conservation," Mr Gaskins added.

"We report regularly to the Government of the Bahamas on our progress on this site. We're very transparent with the Government. And so you can be assured that they're keeping an eye on us to make sure that we're doing the right thing, and so are Bahamian conservationists.”