hen it comes to ports, Barbados is in a class of its own. The Port of Bridgetown is a multipurpose facility dealing with cargo and cruise ships as its core businesses, but it is in the latter area that the port has headlined in recent months, becoming the first and only Caribbean port to berth the Queen Mary 2 luxury cruise liner on her maiden voyage from Southampton to Fort Lauderdale.

The Queen Mary chose Barbados because the port’s consistent work to stay ahead of the area’s shipping needs means it has the capacity to berth such a huge ship. Ever since the eighties when the cruise industry took off, the port has seen an exponential growth in passenger numbers thanks to a commitment to development and quality.

EVERTON WALTERS General Manager of the Barbados Port Authority

Everton Walters, the Barbados Port Authority General Manager, is confident that the port’s infrastructure can keep growing to suit the changes within the maritime industry. Along with major dredging works carried out two years ago, a new cruise pier is planned that will cater for other mega-vessels in line with the government plan to concentrate on the luxury end of the tourism market.

The less glamorous areas of port activity are also being developed. In the mid-nineties, the management aspect was restructured “to keep in step with the profile that suits a modern port,” says Mr. Walters. Activities were zoned for better management, allowing a cost-centered approach so the performance of each separate aspect could be monitored.

“The challenge is to make sure that we carry out our business in a very efficient and effective manner at all times,” says Mr. Walters. The key to this is balancing the needs of cargo and cruise interests, and the port area has been divided accordingly, with a holding area for two large cruise ships and another area with capacity for three to five cargo vessels.

Again, this is not final. “Growth is taking place at such a rapid pace that currently we are making plans for further berthing arrangements,” says Mr. Walters. He wants Bridgetown Port to be seen as the top facility in the Caribbean, and stresses the importance of marketing to stimulate interest as well as the need for consistent quality to satisfy customers. “We want to make sure that we are a high-quality provider of excellent service,” he says.

There is room for expansion in the manufacturing sector, as the port’s export capabilities are more than adequate for current volume. To stimulate industry, the port has created an incentive program of reduced rates to lower the cost of exports and to attract greater levels of foreign exchange. Transhipment is another strong sector, one which showed a marked increase after the port was restructured in 1992.

Full integration into the CSME will present Barbados, and the port, with an ideal opportunity for additional growth. “The port has a very important role to play as the gateway in terms of trade,” says Mr. Walters. He sees the port’s role as extending beyond island interests and encompassing regional activity. “We have to reach out beyond our borders and integrate the countries in our region to ensure that they are also in step with what is happening internationally,” he states.

Barbados’ technological experience in the running of a successful port is a commodity that can be exported to mutual benefit, as an efficient networking of ports is essential to international activities such as transhipment. Indeed, transfer of know-how to neighboring ports is already underway in the form of training programs on security, operations, and industrial relations.

In terms of stimulating tourism for the island as a whole, Mr. Walters states that improvements at the port are carefully integrated with other infrastructure such as the airport and the road system, in order to facilitate transfers within the island. In fact, standards at the airport are equally high, with daily direct flights to major destinations – Grantley Adams International Airport won the 2003 World Travel Award for best Caribbean airport, and has been nominated again this year.