Port bid partners to meet stakeholders
(CNS): Representatives from the cruise lines and the engineering firm that are involved in the Verdant Isle group, which was selected by government to build the cruise berthing facility if it goes ahead, will be meeting with government and other stakeholders here in Cayman this week. In a press release the group said that these would be the first in a series of meetings over the coming months, which will include an open town hall. However, no date has been set for a face to face with the public.
The representatives include Michael Bayley, President and CEO of Royal Caribbean; David Candib, Vice President Development and Operations of Carnival Corporation; Barry Loudermilk, Director, Business Development of Orian Marine Group; and Richard Noel, General Manager of McAlpine Limited in the Cayman Islands.
CNS understands that the group was due to meet at the George Town Yacht Club on Monday evening with tour operators, though it was said to be an invitation only event. The representatives are due to meet other stakeholders on Tuesday and the media on Wednesday. They will also meet with the Cruise Port Referendum campaigners, the National Trust for the Cayman Islands, and the young local climate activists from Protect Our Future.
In the press release about the arrival of the consortium representatives from local marketing company Tower, Michael Bayley said the meetings were to share information about the project and to listen to stakeholder needs and concerns.
“We are committed to being a proactive, approachable and positive community partner, emphasizing stakeholder relationships based on transparency and authenticity,” Bayley said.
It is now more than one year since government held the last public meeting regarding the controversial project. This was during the tendering process but well before the bidders were selected. However, Candib from Carnival and Miguel Reyna from Royal Caribbean were in attendance and sat with the tourism minister and civil servants from the procurement office overseeing the process.
Since then, government has held a press conference to announce the winning bidders and has had selected meetings with some stakeholders, such as the Chamber of Commerce and tourism groups. But it has yet to answer many of the questions raised at the September 2018 meeting, such as how Cayman’s tourism product will be managed during construction, the actual jobs government claims will be generated once the piers are complete, as well as an array of environmental concerns.
More questions have since been raised, which referendum campaigners have now said are crucial now that the issue will be decided by referendum, and have repeatedly pressed government for answers, but without success.
Premier Alden McLaughlin previously said that having a public vote on the cruise project, regardless of the outcome, would derail the project because it would cause too much delay. But so far Verdant Isle does not seem deterred by the vote. Bayley recently confirmed that if Cayman votes ‘no’ to the port, they will walk away with no hard feelings, and while they may choose to invest in infrastructure elsewhere, their ships would not stop visiting Cayman.
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Category: development, Local News
Anyone else see the irony in the cruise ships being prepared to at least engage with stakeholders and the public, whereas the representatives of Caymanian’s interests who purportedly act on our behalf are not? I entirely get that Verdant is trying to persuade us for their own personal interests, but I suspect that applies to the government figures supporting this as well, and at least Verdant are talking.
And what do you think is going to happen when the world deems cruise ships to be a massive polluter and they start dwindling in bookings because suddenly they are expensive after regulations are imposed? Then we’re gonna be stuck with these docks that have ruined our natural environment and no ships.
You forgot one thing, Caymanland, yes our very own version of Disney like fantasy park, with all the people living in it. Wait, wake up this is not where I’m living is it?
mess with Mose, bringing out the heavy hitters…you can always know when someone is running scared…Mose, come on man, expected better from you..
I’m a tour operator, member of CITA and listed on the DOT website. But I didn’t receive an invitation to the Tour Operator stakeholder meeting. Maybe it’s because someone already knew I would never support giving away our future for the promise of trinkets and glass beads.
I think it was only for those that have contracts with the cruise lines. Maybe you don’t have a direct contract. But interesting that this wasn’t offered to all members of CITA. Just goes to show, this is really about what is good for Cayman and for Caymanian businesses, but rather about what’s the best for the select few.
The winning bidder has already been selected…what would the cost be if this project was to be canceled….will share something with you….the government has the advantage of winning the referendum because it takes 50+ % of the voters….people will sit at home or don’t be bothered going to the polls, thereby, increasing the government’s chance…why don’t they have the referendum “for the dock”… people will now have to go to the polls to vote in favor of building the dock…now people will sit at home or don’t be bothered going to the polls,thereby increasing the people’s chance…
I heard that the government is going to make the cruise lines hook up to CUC when they are at the dock. Just another way that government gets their hands on more money.
3:39 Why? The cruise ships can generate all the power they need and it costs them less to run on their own power than hook up to CUC. There’s also a marine safety issue here in the event of a local power outage. This is BS!
This dock is getting built, don’t waste time or money with a referendum.
Uh, okay. Any more good advice for us?
Do what you are told by Alden, the all knowing and all wise.
These cruise ship repersentives seem confident things will good their way.
Screw the referendum lets have a perge. .
I’m new to this, what is the argument against having the cruise ship terminal?
Very few of our Caribbean neighbours/competitors are anchor only, so I just wanted clarity on the argument against this?
This island has a tendancy to hate everything at first especially anything that looks like progress.
Port Facilities for docking:
Antigua
Aruba
Nassau
Freeport
Barbados
Tortola BVI
Cozumel
Costa Maya
Curacao
Dominica
Grand Turk
Granada
Ocho Rios
Montego Bay
Bermuda
Key West
Martinique
Nebis
Puerto Rico
St Kitts
St Lucia
St Martin
St Thomas
Cuba
. .. All are in protected harbors, behind a mountain, up a river, built out to sea or built far away from built up areas as purpose built facilities… They are not build on a deep wall and right in the nations capital….
and we still have record arrivals in Cayman. I think the question might be more along the lines of why do we need it? Wouldn’t our investment be better allocated elsewhere, such as fixing the dump or enhancing stay over tourism? We are making a sizeable investment, don’t let anyone fool you otherwise.
Will be another few nails in the George Town coffin having it become even more of a light industrial area and cruise ship shopping destination. Say goodbye to the beautiful and somewhat unique waterfront that those cruise ship tourists actually come for.
On the why do we need it question, we have no idea if our current attractions, other than Boatswains Bay, can handle more arrivals without suffering. Concerns along the lines of congestion, such as being an unpleasant beach going experience, or someone getting killed out at sandbar with some poor operator getting sued because they cannot afford insurance at the rates the cruise ship tours pay.
There is more, it can be a large topic, especially when you start to look into community health impacts, environmental concerns, and even the straight forward dollars and cents of it that look like Cayman takes the risk with the cruise lines taking the profit.
You seem to know a lot for being new to this….
“new to this” heh heh.
Put on a mask and go for a swim off eden rock over towards the port. Then come back and tell us.
Lol. How about you give us the arguments for?
OH!! Let’s be like everybody else!!! Let’s join hands and be the same as all the other ports! YAY What a stupid idea. Not a good comparison. And if you were to get an overall opinion on whether a dock enhanced their tourism product, I’d say the majority would say not.
You say you’re new to this… Do some research on each of those before you speak like you know more. Because you don’t know what you’re talking about. And no one wants to hear from someone that is new to this. We’ve been here a while…
Why should our goal be to turn into every island out there?????? Like keeping up with the Jones’. Why?
We should strive for boutique tourism, NOT mass tourism.
I’ve been to the majority (18) of those islands and they all started to look the same. Except for Nebis. That place does not exist.
And what is Cayman already looking like? Hint, it’s not looking like an island anymore!
Attention Stakeholders. Keep your hands on your wallet and your backsides. These people want to win and you are in the way
How corrupt can our government be? Not for 1 second would Michael Bayley, David Candib, or Barry Loudermilk, had they been fortunate enough to grow up in a natural paradise like Grand Cayman volunteer their own hometowns to be visited by 2.5 million cruise ship passengers. For their own sake and the sake of their grandchildren I am sure they would reject mass tourism for their own neighbourhoods where they currently reside yet here we have this government deliberately steering the country into the abyss.
That is a very insightful comment. Looks like you shook out a few hornets. Useless hornets, just sting.
Try getting into their gated communities in south Florida…. not going to happen. But they don’t care what ha-pens to the rest of us. Screw the cruise lines before they screw us!!
Mass market cruise tourism does us more harm than good. We should start charging landing fees in inverse proportion to the cost of the cruise.
More than 1,000/night =. Free
500-1000/night. =. $25 per passenger
250-500/night. = $50 per passenger
Under 250/night. = $100 per passenger
That should sort it out!
At the “invitation Only” meeting, same old, same old Bla, Bla no Facts, no references, no information handouts, PLENTY promises, promises from Michael Bailey.
They will promise us the world. But as uncle Cadion said: “A promise is a comfort to a fool.”
FIX THE F******* DUMP.
Agreed! Apart from Mount Trashmore being an environmental and health hazard, it is a national disgrace!
Time for some serious protests? Show me something that says the water is safe to swim in and the air here is breathable.
And this week in the Cayman Islands we are having the Fool Caymanians Again Information Alliance
FCIA 2.0
Why is CIG driving full steam ahead for a MASS tourism strategy based on QUANTITY over a BOUTIQUE tourism strategy which focusses on QUALITY?
Why is it allowing cruise lines to come into the country and set up businesses which COMPETE with local small and medium sized businesses?
Here’s what this island needs. More hotels, more cruise ships, a monorail, more cars on the road, a bridge from East End to West Bay and a tunnel from Rum Point to George Town. Let’s go big. 100,000 residents? Pfft…we should go for 200,000 and have the biggest garbage dump in the world just like in the movie Idiocracy. That plus the Burj Caylifa would be great
you are the wisest sage among us
You seem to have avoided thumbs down despite the obvious sarcasm. The bots are either a very simple algorithm or a team of non native English speakers. Suspect the latter.
‘Cause it needs to find employment for large numbers of people from nearby islands at sub poverty level wages.
9:01 those poverty level wages people are hired because they are smarter and gets the job done, not because of the wages.
just letting Caymanians know to stop hiding behind the true reason.
According to AP, Carnival has just issued a profit warning for 2019. The story continues –
‘Looking to 2020, Carnival CEO Arnold Donald warned that as a “global cruise company, with nearly 50% of our guests sourced outside of the U.S., we are facing a number of current headwinds, including weakening economies affecting our Europe & Asia segment.”’
In other stories on this, the issue of increasing fuel prices is also being mentioned. Be interesting to see how it all works out.
Also Cannes in France just told them all to $(#$! off…
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/cannes-set-ban-highly-polluting-193200006.html
7:51 everyone will never be happy and satisfied.
they will never find the words for the anti port people ears!
Correct – some Caymanians are not sellouts.
Right!!! You will never convince us that your unnecessary port is good for Camanians….. because it isn’t! Fix the dump and forget the dock.
A transparent international bidding process reveals the winning bid proposal documents after the award, along with competing bidders’ efforts for all to review. It discusses the decision making process and criteria with those that ask…there is a proposal that people can read, not one to be papered in later, as seems to be the case here. All that we can see and record from this process is either deliberate lobbied misinformation, incomplete, or stinks of side-deals. The Americans involved in this should be worried about FCPA review even with corporate HQ in Panama. Our Cabinet should be worried about SIPL Law and the inspection that could bring. Neither seem to be, because CPR are still playing softball and haven’t filed those complaints.
Since you know, don’t wait on CPR. They did what it said in their name. Whether you’re for or against wasn’t (technically) their self-imposed mandate. GO file the complaints yourself.
CPR are still trying to get the facts out. We can all help with contributions to offset CIG’s deep pockets: http://www.cprcayman.com/Donate.php
https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Orion-Marine-Group/reviews
These are the heavy lifting people. It seems like recent changes have taken place.
Anyway good people, do your own research.
Do you believe everything you read on the internet?
Besides, it doesn’t matter one iota. The port is going to destroy Grand Cayman.
1:10 same as Dart Tunnels did!
C’mon!?! You are comparing apples to palm trees.
Michael Bayley:-
The estimated Net Worth of Michael W Bayley is at least $28.7 Million dollars as of 15 February 2019.
Mr. Bayley owns over 20,084 units of Royal Caribbean Cruises stock worth over $6,800,894 and over the last 9 years he sold RCL stock worth over $16,152,360.
In addition, he makes $5,722,090 as President and Chief Executive Officer of Royal Caribbean International at Royal Caribbean Cruises.
Ref:- https://wallmine.com/people/41727/michael-w-bayley
How is our reef supposed to care about any of that?
One FCPA ruling away from having DoJ claw it all back.
Well I was there as a guest of the restaurant downstairs and when I was leaving I saw Stran Bodden and Moses Kirkconnell get out of a black SUV vehicle labelled “Protocol”.
After they exited said vehicle, they proceeded to go upstairs. So I guess they would be there in an official capacity, right?
They did not participate in the meeting.
They just sat around upstairs with their fingers in their ears. Silly me. I apologize.
Yeah, one would think they would drive their own damn cars but no have to be chauffeured in these expensive gas guzzlers at our expense.
Car pooling dodo…..Would you rather they show up in 5 different individual cars?
Actually yeah, if they were all electric vehicles.
I’m looking forward to learning more about this project, hoping they answer all of the questions so everyone can be happily satisfied at what an amazing success this will be for our island and people.
Hahaha. You funny.
Had you been there then I am sure you would have been disappointed as I was.
Nothing new, more unsubstantiated talk talk talk.
Go home, Troll!
Well, you’ll probably be able to smell it before you hear it.
But if you’ve been paying attention, you’ve been smelling it for MONTHS.
I think all of us who live here are stakeholders. Why aren’t they holding a public meeting so that anyone of us can ask them questions to try to get to the truth. Also some of us would like to hear what guarantee they can give that this dock won’t make our beaches worse off than they are now.? How many and what categories of jobs will this dock generate for our people? Do they think that the road structure here is sufficient to accommodate all these extra tourists that will be landed in George Town? Are there sufficient amenities for the tourist enjoyment? Will there be sufficient public restrooms available to the additional tourist’s comfort. Some of us are concerned about these mundane things. We live here and we would like to know that all these additional people traipsing through our Beloved 2 x 4 Rock will not impede or complicate our way of life.