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THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022
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‘Too many taxi plates will hurt elderly’ warns union chief By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas Taxi Cab Union (BTCU) president says the elderly are suffering due to the 200 percent increase in the government’s taxi plate giveaway and many will “cry out” this coming September. Wesley Ferguson, told Tribune Business thatthe government gave out too many taxi plates in its latest exercise and drivers are now suffering because the market is now saturated with additional taxi drivers. “We only asked for 200 plates but the ministry (of Transport and Housing) gave out 600.” Between June and July, the Ministry of Transport and Housing gave out 580 taxi plates, reports indicate, well above the 200 Mr Ferguson had initially asked and negotiated for. Despite 90 of the inactive taxi plates being revoked,
he said this is still too high a number of taxi plates issued for drivers. Mr Ferguson added: “We did not anticipate or take into consideration the elderly people, the disenfranchised people, the poor and weak among us and those people are now suffering as a result of the many taxi plates that were issued. “Now those people who were depending on taxi plate income are now the ones who are suffering including the BTCU because we managed a lot of those plates.” The BTCU had a longstanding agreement with some of its retired members that they would hold on to their taxi plates for safe keeping and use the revenue from their plates as retirement income for those retired drivers and their spouses. This has now been placed in jeopardy with the exponential increase in taxi plates coupled with the revocation
WESLEY FERGUSON of what was determined as dormant plates. The lifting of the moratorium on taxi plates was what Mr Ferguson wanted initially, but “didn’t take the elderly into consideration.” He added: “I did my best because I was trying to get my minister (JoBeth Coleby-Davis) or the government of The Bahamas to actually subsidise the union, so we could now
purchase cars in these people’s names and put it on the road. It was supposed to be like an employment opportunity, where those people who want to get into the industry ad don’t have a taxi plate or don’t have the means to buy a car can come to the union and get a job as a taxi driver.”
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Abaco poultry farm may aim to launch $150k hatchery By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net AN ABACO poultry farm needs just $150,000 to start their own hatchery in efforts to beat supply chain woes. Lance Pinder, Abaco Big Bird Poultry’s operations manager, told Tribune Business he needs $150,000 to start a bird hatchery at his Abaco plant and all it takes is four months to get it up and running.
Mr Pinder said: “The only thing is now we need to find eggs. That’ll be the first step, because right now we have to order eggs from Belgium because we can’t find them in the US.” He added: “Those eggs we are getting from Belgium we will send them to the hatchery in Miami for them to hatch them so we can get birds, but that’s not going to help me out for the next six to eight weeks and in the meantime we are going to be out of product.”
The global supply chain issues is taking a toll on the agricultural industry and there is no sign of the matter being sorted out in the short to medium term as containers are still backed up in China that were on route to the US. As a result of this it is going to take a while to move eggs from Belgium to their Miami hatchery. Mr Pinder added: “Now the hatchery is one side, but then you also have to do your own breeder programme
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Freeport Container Port celebrates 25th anniversary BY DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net THE Freeport Container Port reached a major milestone this summer, celebrating 25 years in operation on Grand Bahama. On July 16, 1997, FCP opened its doors. It serves as the natural transshipment hub for the Eastern seaboard of the Americas and the principal East/West Line Haul routes through the region. It is a member of Hutchison Ports, the port and related services division
of CK Hutchison Holding Limited (CK Hutchison). The company and its operations have been expanded over the past two and a half decades. CEO Alan Dixon commended the team for reaching this milestone. “When we opened the doors at FCP in 1997, our operation started with a team of 65 people and four cranes. From those humble beginnings, our team has grown 10 times its original size as we progressively upgraded and expanded
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Environment specialists sign up to roles at Lighthouse Point By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net DISNEY Cruise line (DCL) has recruited more Bahamians to fill positions for its Eleuthera Lighthouse Point project. In a statement, DCL named Bradley Watson of Nassau as Bahamas conservation programmes manager and Pachancia Knowles, also a Nassaunative, as Bahamas assistant conservation programmes manager. These newly created positions based in Eleuthera will lead the implementation of DCL’s environmental management plan and local conservation strategies within The Bahamas. “At Disney, our approach to protecting the environment has always been centered on the idea that
people are the key to meaningful and lasting conservation success,” said Dr Andy Stamper, conservation science manager with Disney’s animals, science and environment. “Bradley and Pachancia’s expertise and history of work in The Bahamas will be tremendously valuable as we carry forward our commitment to people, wildlife and nature in the region. We are excited to welcome them to the Disney team.” For the past three years, Mr Watson championed several community-driven conservation and ecotourism projects throughout Abaco, Grand Bahama and Eleuthera as a science officer with the Bahamas National Trust. In this role, he led successful conservation efforts on both private and public lands including
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‘Moving services online is the right way to go’ By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net INFORMATION technology professionals have hailed the government’s efforts to provide grant funding for digital innovators for public sector efficiency. Philip Darville, owner/ operator of SolveIt Bahamas, told Tribune Business the government moving to automate more of its services is “commonplace” everywhere else in the world because this is what is
needed to conduct business effectively nowadays. He said: “The way we’ve been operating in a legacy environment is just counterproductive to all stakeholders especially the ones you are providing the solutions for. So essentially they should shift to more of a one government model.” The government has announced that Bahamian innovators and tech entrepreneurs are being urged to participate in a digital innovation project to develop technological solutions, which will bring
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