The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

OF THE 75 to 80 vessels calling monthly at the Freeport Container Port, only one service comes out of South Africa, representatives of international health organisations and the Ebola Task Force were told by port officials during their weekend tour of the transshipment facility to observe safety protocols.

The container port has a designated holding area on site where sick crew are taken for evaluation by a port medical officer. Dr Roberta Andraghetti, of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), and Dr Gerry Eijkemans, of the World Health Organisation (WHO), were in Grand Bahama on Sunday assessing the safety protocols in place with respect to Ebola at the container port, airport, and hospital. Dr Michael Darville, minister for Grand Bahama, led the team of officials.

Recommendations were made to the Ebola Task Force, but overall the officials said they were impressed with the protocols in place, which they will be recommending to other countries in the region.

The Freeport Container Port (FCP), BORCO, and Statoil are major shipping operations on Grand Bahama and vessels from all over the world call at the facilities. With the exception of the container port, vessels with oil from west Africa call at BORCO and Statoil.

During the tour, N T Knowles, FCP’s commercial manager, informed officials that their only service out of Africa comes from Cape Town. They also have services from South America, the US east coast, Europe, China and the Far East.

“We have a procedure in place for all vessels coming that at least 12 hours in advance we must receive a maritime certificate of health from the vessel of all crew members on board,” he said.

He also noted that arrangements must be made prior the vessel’s arrival concerning any request for crew members wishing to come ashore. A Customs form must be filled out and disembarkation authorised by a Customs officer.

The new protocol is that the Ministry of Health’s Ebola surveillance team must first clear ships arriving at the port before any contact is made with Bahamian authorities.

Mr Knowles said crew changes are rare, but notification must be made well in advance of who is coming off and going on the vessel.

Jason Pinder, FCP’s health and safety manager, said that the container port has been in recent contact with health officials concerning protocols for Ebola. In the past, he said, they have followed necessary health guidelines and protocols set by hospital officials regarding Cholera, F1N1 and SARS.

When a crew member is ill, he said, the port medical officer is contacted. The patient is taken to the designated building onsite and examined before being taken by ambulance to the hospital for treatment.

The vessels that call monthly at FCP range in size from 2,000 to 9,200 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units, which represents one 20ft container).

“It is our hope that we handle vessels up to 13,000 TEUs because the business is moving towards bigger vessels,” said Mr Knowles.

With harbour and berthing depths of 16 metres, the Freeport Harbour and the container port are able to receive the world’s largest vessels that ports along the US east coast are unable to accommodate. “We are a good transit point for trade in this area,” Mr Knowles said.

The container port has the capacity to handle about 1.6 million TUEs annually. None of the containers is opened while at the container port. The average stay is about seven days and inspections are only carried out when authorities receive intelligence regarding a container.

Mr Knowles indicated that land is available for further expansion. “There is 23 hectares of land available that would increase our capacity by another one million TEUs,” he added.

The container port employs around 715 workers, including contracted workers.