Bahamian stay-at-home hits cargo volumes Arawak Port profits off 30% year-over-year
By NEIL HARTNELL
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
The Nassau Container Port s top executive yesterday said Bahamian cargo shipping rates could be impacted for the better in early 2021 after a major carrier signalled its plans to service this market.
Dion Bethell, Arawak Port Development Company s (APD) president and chief financial officer, told Tribune Business that CMA/CGM, the French transportation company, had voiced interest in one of its vessels calling on Nassau in the New Year. In recent weeks we ve had some expression from CMA/CGM, one of the largest carriers in the world, he revealed. They re definitely in the top five. They ve expressed interest in having a vessel call here to Nassau, certainly in the New Year.
The Nassau Container Port.
NASSAU, BAHAMAS The reopening of the country’s two largest hotel properties, Atlantis and Baha Mar, continues to have a ripple effect across the country, driving an uptick in port volumes that have been down almost 30 percent due to the pandemic.
Dion Bethell, president and chief executive of the BISX-listed Arawak Port Development (APD) Company, said: “I would say that in the last month we have seen an uptick in port volumes, though still not the pre-COVID volumes. We have seen some project cargo coming in for Global Port Holdings as they get that project underway. We have seen some volumes associated with that. As we are in the height of the season, all of the vessels over the remaining weeks I’m sure are trying to bring in as much as they could. From March to November, our volumes are still down almost 30 percent.”