By Neil Hartnell

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Nassau lost an estimated 16,000 visitors and four vessel calls on Saturday after strong winds prevented all but one ship from docking at the city’s $300m cruise port, it was confirmed last night.

Michael Maura, Nassau Cruise Port’s chief executive and director, told Tribune Business that “20 miles per hour-plus” winds blowing from the east north-east - rather than Nassau Harbour’s deteriorating break waters - were the primary reason why only one of five expected cruise calls made it into port that day.

Downtown Nassau merchants, restaurants tour operators and other cruise-reliant tourism businesses thus missed out on significant anticipated revenue, as confirmed by Paolo Garzaroli, president of Graycliff Cigar Company, who said the resort and attraction operator had been “staffed for an onslaught” of visitors on Saturday only to receive “dribbles”.

But Mr Maura, while acknowledging this is “not the first time” that high winds have prevented cruise ships from docking in Nassau, told this newspaper that “one of the blessings of The Bahamas” is that its multiple destinations give the lines sufficient flexibility to adjust their schedules for bad weather.

He explained that the relative proximity of cruise line private islands may have allowed the impacted ships to call at those destinations first, then return to Nassau later when the weather has eased, thus making up for the revenues and activity that may have been lost on Saturday.

However, even though Nassau harbour’s decaying break waters were not the prime cause of Saturday’s cruise ship docking difficulties, Mr Maura said The Bahamas cannot afford to “kick the can down the road five years” on essential repairs that need to be made urgently to prevent disruption to the Arawak Cay-based Nassau Container Port and the country’s import dependent economy.

He added that the “wave energy”, which would have surged through gaps in the break water at Paradise Island’s western end on Saturday, would have hit Arawak Cay’s eastern end and been deflected to further erode the sand forming the Western Esplanade and Junkanoo beaches.

Speaking after Mr Garzaroli blamed the break waters for impacting Nassau’s cruise tourism industry, Mr Maura said that while they contributed to the difficulties on Saturday they were not the primary factor.

“The break water does have an impact, most certainly, in that a properly functioning break water improves the utility of then harbour entrance,” the Nassau Cruise Port chief told Tribune Business. “But the major issue earlier this week would have been the wind.

“On Saturday, we had 20 mile per hour-plus winds out of the east north-east. That would have been the primary disruptor of cruise line access. We did have a ship that was successful, a smaller vessel that was successful, in entering the harbour - a Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) ship.

“But the larger vessels, as a result of being taller and wider, the area of access for the harbour entrance is more impactful for them. As a result of the east north-east wind, the wind coming out of that direction was pushing the ships towards the break water on the Arawak Cay side,” Mr Maura explained.

“The wind was the most significant factor and material aspect in the disruption. Having a proper breakwater most certainly facilitates and improves the utility of the harbour entrance, but the biggest factor was the wind. When the wind is hitting the ships right on the beam; right on the side of the vessel, the port side, it’s not as if the wind can be cut by the bow of the ship and it has the ability to go into the wind. The face of the wind is pushing the vessel’s side.”

Mr Maura said that, as a result of the high winds, Nassau and its cruise tourism economy lost potentially 16,000 visitors as Royal Caribbean, Disney, MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company”) and a second Norwegian Cruise Line vessel were unable to dock at the cruise port.

“I would say that were probably affected by the loss of an estimated 16,000 passengers,” he told Tribune Business. “Are we on occasion impacted by the wind? Most certainly; this is not the first time it has happened.

“But one of the blessings of The Bahamas is, if the ships have difficulty getting into Nassau and the weather at their private destinations is not as bad, what they’ll do is flip flop and call at their private island destinations first and come to Nassau afterwards. We have that benefit, and other places throughout the Caribbean don’t have that benefit of something like this.”

While the condition of Nassau’s harbour breakwaters was not the primary cause of Saturday’s events, Mr Maura said repairs need to be effected sooner rather than later. “There obviously is a focus today on breakwater restoration,” he said. “That’s something we need to get resolved.

“It doesn’t matter that the ships are as large as they are. Notwithstanding the size of the vessels, the idea would be to improve access with the restored breakwaters.”

The Nassau Cruise Port chief added: “With the breakwater issue, with wind coming from the east north-east you end up with the surge that goes through the gap in the breakwater on the western end of Paradise Island. That wave energy hits the eastern end of Arawak Cay and deflects to the Western Esplanade beach and continues east to Junkanoo Beach.

“That wave energy removes sand off Western Esplanade beach and Junkanoo Beach, which creates an expense for the Government as government has to restore those beaches. The impact to our economy wasn’t just the 16,000 passengers, but there was some degree of beach erosion resulting from the wave energy passing through the breach in the breakwater, hitting Arawak Cay and pulling sand off the beaches.”

Warning that breakwater repairs cannot be delayed, Mr Maura added: “It’s only getting worse. It’s not a situation where it’s going to get better. It’s getting worse every single year. It’s not something where we can kick the can down the road for five years. We need to have a plan.”

The Government allocated $12.16m in the 2025-2026 Budget, divided into $6.08m annual slices and spread over two years, to repair the two Nassau Harbour breakwaters. Arawak Port Development Company (APD), the Nassau Container Port operator, disclosed to Tribune Business earlier this year that five vessels were forced by the deteriorating harbour breakwater to wait out at sea during the three months to end-December 2024.

Dion Bethell, APD’s president and chief financial officer, writing in the company’s annual report, said: “If salutary action is not taken, breakwater disintegration will continue to pose a serious threat to life and business at the port and its environs. It bears repeating that the negative effects will reverberate throughout The Bahamas’ import-driven economy.

“I will again remind decision-makers that 90 percent of international shipping cargo passes through APD’s Arawak Cay facilities.... I reiterate that the current and daily state of the 56-year-old barrier negatively impacts ship and port operations and personnel, including APD staff, ships crews and stevedores loading and unloading docked vessels.

“Inclement sea conditions increase danger as the resultant ‘roll’ or ‘pitch’ of cargo vessels being worked can be between six to ten feet up and down. Such occurrences take a significant toll on APD’s cranes and other equipment.”