The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Freeport’s harbour is poised for its “most significant expansion’ since 1956 and the initial Hawksbill Creek Agreement work, as it prepares for an expected increase in business linked to the Panama Canal’s widening.

The Freeport Harbour Company, the joint venture between Hutchison Whampoa and the Grand Bahama Port Authority’s Port Group Ltd, last night confirmed it was proceeding with the East Harbour Expansion (EHE) project.

The project will involve dredging work in and around Billy Cay, in a bid to ensure Freeport’s harbour has the depth and width to accommodate the Panamax and post-Panamax ships - and general upsurge in shipping traffic - expected to occur from 2015 onwards with the Panama Canal project completion.

Freeport Harbour currently comprises 1,600 acres with a depth of 52 feet (16 metres). Its expansion is also designed to boost business at the Grand Bahama Shipyard and Freeport Container Port, creating further job opportunities and boosting the city’s industrial/shipping competitiveness.

Tribune Business previously revealed the Freeport Harbour expansion plan when Grand Bahama Group/Morgan Oil Marine’s oil recovery plant was forced to switch locations to accommodate it.

A leading Grand Bahama Group investor, TXO Plc, said the change had been enforced by the Billy Cay project, which is intended to expand Freeport’s Harbour.

Tim Baldwin, TXO’s chairman, had said in a note to investors: “After much deliberation, it has been decided that the proposed development of the Billy Cay project in Freeport Harbour will effectively render the existing proposed site for the Morgan Oil Marine hydrocarbon recovery plant unsafe and therefore unsuitable.

“As there are no free sites available, the Freeport Harbour Company and Grand Bahama Port Authority have been extremely co-operative in re-arranging their existing and proposed operations so that Morgan Oil Marine has a new and substantial intermediate site available, which is well-suited to its short and medium-term needs, ahead of the construction of a new, purpose-built site in line with the Harbour expansion that will fulfil all of Morgan Oil Marine’s requirements for the long-term.”