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MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2025
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‘Not panicking yet’ over fears of huge shipping cost hike t A.BO NBEF $07*% XPVME AEFWBTUBUF JNQPSU FDPOPNZ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIAN businesses are “not panicking yet” over fears this nation and the wider Caribbean will be “devastated” by potential container shipping cost increases worth thousands of dollars due to US policy changes. Grocery stores and construction materials suppliers told Tribune Business that the potential impact from proposals to levy fees of up to $1m per US port call on shipping companies with Chinese-manufactured vessels is akin to “manmade COVID” and the supply chain disruption and inflationary pressures that resulted from the pandemic. They spoke out after Tropical Shipping, one of the major carriers serving The Bahamas, warned
customers in this nation and elsewhere that the plan put forward by the US Trade Representative’s office would have “a farreaching financial impact” on import-dependent Caribbean nations with ocean freight rates likely to increase by “thousands of dollars per TEU” or twenty-foot equivalent unit container. The proposal, which is currently undergoing public consultation in the US, is already experiencing strong opposition and headwinds from American exporters, shipping companies and port operators due to the perceived harmful impact it will have on their costs, staffing levels and business they do with The Bahamas and other regions. The feedback period, along with a public hearing, ends on March 24, 2025 in
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‘Look in own backyard’ on financial crime, US urged By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Government has united with local businessmen and financial services executives in urging the US to “look in your own backyard” before blasting The Bahamas over alleged anti-financial crime deficiencies. Branville McCartney, the former Democratic National Alliance (DNA) leader, told Tribune Business that the US State Department was “quite frankly over-stepping into our jurisdiction” by alleging in its latest international narcotics control strategy (INCSR) report that The Bahamas “lacks... political will” to combat money laundering, fraud and other forms of financial crime. The report also asserted, without supplying evidence or examples, that The Bahamas is viewed by fraudsters and corrupt persons as a “low risk” safe haven, but Mr McCartney and others countered
t (PW U QSJWBUF TFDUPS IJU CBDL BU 4UBUF %FQU t #SBO 64 APWFS TUFQQJOH XJUI JUT BTTFSUJPOT t "( 8F SF PVU PG XJUI '"5' 64 JTO U RYAN PINDER KC that any illicit flows passing through this nation’s financial system are tiny in comparison to the multi-billion dollar sums that pass through the US, European and other major onshore financial centres. Describing the US assertions as “a bunch of foolishness”, the Halsbury Chambers law firm chief pointed out that this nation has consistently reformed and overhauled its financial services regulatory regime in response to 25 years of pressure from the US, other G-20 member countries and their forums such as the Organisation
for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). And, calling on the Government to “stand firm” and defend Bahamian laws and sovereignty from such attacks, Mr McCartney reiterated that the US needs to “take care of their own home before meddling in other countries” and look at “the man in the mirror” first. This was echoed by Paul Moss, principal of Bahamian financial services provider, Dominion Management Services, who told Tribune Business that the US criticisms were the
equivalent of “the pot calling the kettle black”. Translating this to scripture, he cited Matthew 7:5 from the Bible, which states: “You hypocrite. First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” The Davis administration, in its formal response, adopted a similar stance by pointing out that the US is itself guilty of what it criticises other nations. By failing to adopt the Common Reporting
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Freeport can ‘fill void’ on US China ship fee By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net CALLS have been made for the Freeport Container Port to “fill the void” and enable The Bahamas and wider Caribbean to escape the US threat to levy up to $1m per port call by Chinese-made ships. Myles Culmer, managing director of advisory services for BDO Bahamas, told Tribune Business via a brief e-mail that the container port’s strategic location allows it receive cargo from
global suppliers that could then be shipped on to other Bahamian islands and the wider region. And this, in turn, would enable freight carriers with Chinese-made vessel fleets to avoid the proposed port fee by keeping them out of the US. Speaking after it emerged that the US Trade Representative’s Office is proposing fees that would massively increase shipping costs from US ports by “thousands of dollars” per container, given that
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Bahamians ‘paying rent in own home’ over fee switch By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIANS are “now paying rent in their own home” as a result of the revised air services navigation fees being proposed by the Government-owned regulator, an aviation industry veteran is arguing. Captain Randy Butler, principal of the former Sky Bahamas, told Tribune Business that the rebalanced fee structure proposed by the Bahamas Air Navigation Services Authority (BANSA) effectively “penalises Bahamians for using their own air space” as well as
foreign-owned carriers that provide the airlift to support this nation’s vital tourism industry and other sectors; Speaking out following publication of BANSA’s proposal to drastically shift the fee burden on to carriers that land and take-off in The Bahamas, and away from those that fly other this nation, he argued that the regime has moved far away from its original goal which was for Bahamians to benefit first from developing the necessary technical and resource capacity to take over management of this country’s air space.
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