Business View Caribbean, July/August 2018

86 87 and Jolly Harbor, a little further to the south. Deep Water Harbor was built between 1965 and 1968, and opened to commercial traffic in 1969. After 50-plus years of operation, it is out- dated and slated for redevelopment. Darwin Telemaque, the CEO of the Port Authority, reports that the financing for the $100 million project has finally been approved after several years of negotiations, a contractor has been selected, plans have been drawn, and the actual demoli- tion of certain parts of the Port are now under- way. “It took some time to finalize the financing,” he states. “We had to demonstrate certain specific financial performance, which we have done. So, the Port redevelopment project has started.” While awaiting the Port’s redevelopment, Tele- maque reports that over the last few years, the Port has been busy and successful. “We’ve dou- bled the port’s income from 2013 to 2017,” he declares. “We’ve made significant improvement in our productivity in terms of ship-to-shore inter- face and in terms of our yard management –we shrunk and repositioned the yard. That has made a significant difference for us.We have updated clearance and cargo processing services with customs, so we now have a quicker and smoother transit system from the Port. Our financial man- agement continues to be our strongest aspect for growth, as we have surpassed our annual finan- cial performance for every year by double-digit numbers. Our profitability in 2016 was pretty strong; we generated about $4 million. In 2017, we did over $9 million in gross profit – the best year we ever had.We won the Port Management Association’s Award for Port of the Year in 2015 and 2016 for the most improved port in the Ca- ribbean.” The new Port’s timetable for completion is about three years. It will include a logistics park, which Telemaque says will facilitate its distribu- tion, warehousing, and permitting services –“all of the things that would go into a logistics en- vironment,” he avers. “We’ll be a bonded facility with a new administrative building that will help the Port, improving our efficiency by creating an enhanced output and a one-stop-shop for all the areas. One of the things that we are going to do is to select and implement a terminal operating system– a TOS.We don’t have one, so we’re look- ing at facilitating that.We will be putting in fiber throughout the Port, so that as the technology advances, we can continue to advance with it.” “We are starting to do some digital analytics on our equipment, with the Caribbean Maritime Uni- versity,” he continues. “We’re having some discus- sions with them now to commence that aspect of THE PORT AUTHORITY OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA WHAT: A quasi-governmental agency respon- sible for the islands’ maritime ports WHERE: Headquartered in St. John’s, Antigua WEBSITE: www.port.gov.ag AT A GLANCE THE PORT AUTHORITY OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA