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MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2025
$5.50 $4.85 Chamber chief queries if DevCO sale to follow port and harbour exits
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Bahamian airlines hit with up to $1m âretroactiveâ fees
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net GRAND Bahamaâs Chamber of Commerce president has questioned whether Hutchison Whampoaâs imminent exit from its port and harbour assets will also spark the sale of its Bahamian real estate holdings. Dillon Knowles, newlyappointed and giving his personal rather than the Chamberâs views, told Tribune Business that the Freeport Container Port and Freeport Harbour Company have always been the Hong Kong conglomerateâs âreason for being in Grand Bahamaâ rather than its investments in Grand Bahama Development Company (DevCO) and other land-related assets. As a result, in the wake of last weekâs announcement by CK Hutchison Holdings that it plans to sell all its international port operations, which almost inevitably include the Freeport Container Port and Freeport Harbour Company, he queried whether it
will now seek a buyer for its 50 percent equity interest in DevCO that includes Board and management control. Speaking after it was revealed that a consortium featuring Blackrock, the worldâs largest asset manager, and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), Hutchisonâs long-standing partner in the Freeport Container Port, are the preferred buyers for the global port interests, Mr Knowles told this newspaper that he was neither âoverly excitedâ nor âanxiousâ about the dealâs implications for Grand Bahama once it is concluded. âThe question for me, though, is if Hutchison exists the Port business, which is their reason for being in Grand Bahama, will they exit the land business they are also in?â the GB Chamber president asked. âDevCo and the Freeport Development Company, which has just under 1,000 acres of land between the Container Port and the airport - the Sea Air Business Centre.
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By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIAN-OWNED airlines have been hit with demands for up to $1m-plus in retroactive fees that have caused some to question if they âcan surviveâ in an increasingly hostile environment. Sherrexcia âRexyâ Rolle, Western Airâs president, chief executive and general counsel, in a written response to Tribune Business inquiries confirmed that the airline last Thursday received an invoice from the Bahamas Air Navigation Services Authority (BANSA) mandating that it pay an extra â$1.3m-plusâ for the three-year period between May 2021 to end-July 2024. Revealing that this represented a 118 percent increase, or more than doubling, of the $1.1m already paid by Western Air to BANSA during that same timeframe, she said: âYes, we have received what appears to be a retroactive invoice from BANSA. It should be noted [that] Western Air has consistently paid every invoice issued by BANSA in full since the inception of its billing. âWestern Air has paid over $1.1m in fees to BANSA. In fact, BANSAâs
t 0QFSBUPST GFBS GPS TVSWJWBM NBZ SFMPDBUF t 8BSO QBTTFOHFST XJMM QBZ NPSF PWFS IJLF t A6OGBJS QSBDUJDFT GFBS PO EPVCMF USJQMF SJTFT own records indicate that we have actually paid more than we were invoiced. However, on March 6, 2025, we received an invoice from BANSA for $2.4m-plus covering the period from May 2021 to July 2024 - charges that have never previously been billed or communicated to us.â Paul Aranha, founder of TransIsland Airways, told this newspaper his company also received a BANSA invoice on the same day as Western Air demanding that it pay a total retroactive sum almost triple what the Authority has to-date billed it for the May 2021-July 2024 period. Disclosing what Tribune Business calculated was a 198.5 percent, or six-figure, increase, he said he
has already engaged attorneys to âhandleâ the matter while warning that - if BANSA does not alter its stance or back down - TransIsland Airways will likely leave The Bahamas and relocate to another jurisdiction. Asked what will happen if the situation remains unchanged, Mr Aranha replied: âI donât think we will continue operating. We will look elsewhere for our aviation involvement. Weâll take our very capable Bahamian team with us wherever we go. This is not an environment we can realistically continue to exist under. âWeâve already referred it to the lawyers. As far as Iâm concerned theyâll be handling the rest of this. Negotiations are typically fruitless with people when you have this great of a divide. Iâm skipping the negotiating part and referring it to the lawyers. When thereâs something so obviously wrong thereâs an obligation to take a stance on it.â Both Ms Rolle and Mr Aranha challenged how BANSA can now retroactively impose massive fee hikes on flights it has already provided services to and which occurred as far back as almost four years ago.
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âScrambled eggsâ: Mass imports counter to agriculture objective By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN farming advocate has described the Governmentâs agriculture policy as akin to âscrambled eggsâ with last weekâs mass importation of cheap eggs running counter to efforts to boost local production. Caron Shepherd, the Bahamas Agro Entrepreneurs Groupâs president, told Tribune Business that Super Valueâs mass purchase of cut-price eggs from the Dominican Republic effectively undermines at least in the short-term - the Davis administrationâs stated policy objective of expanding domestic
CARON SHEPHERD production via the multimillion dollar Golden Yoke initiative. Asserting that ânothing has happenedâ in the two years since it was
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Ex-minister: Four-fold free drugs expansion âsurrealâ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A FORMER health minister yesterday asserted that the Governmentâs promise of free medicines for 160,000 Bahamians with chronic non-communicable diseases is âsurrealâ given its struggles to pay existing bills. Dr Duane Sands, also the Free National Movementâs (FNM) chairman, challenged how much it will cost - and where the Government will find the money to pay - for Dr Michael Darvilleâs pledge to massively expand by almost four-fold the number of Bahamians receiving free medication.
DR DUANE SANDS Speaking as other physicians, talking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that âthe Government right now owes us for last monthâs National Health Insurance (NHI) services;
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