The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Nassau Container Port executives have warned that it is “increasingly indisputable” that lax security at Potter’s Cay and Family Island ports is fuelling tax evasion, smuggling and crime.

The BISX-listed Arawak Cay facility’s chairman and chief executive both warned that security challenges at other ports “pose a threat” to both their company, the Government’s revenues and law and order.

Jack Sands, Arawak Port Development Company’s (APD) chairman, wrote in the 2015 annual report: “It is common for challenges of all degrees to emerge from the expected ebb and flow of businesses everywhere.

“There are also those, however, that arise from the unexpected decisions and actions that lie beyond our purview. Among the gravest are those things that have a harmful impact nationally.

“An increasingly indisputable fact is that there exists a direct link between crime and the use of ill-equipped ports to land or export duty-not-paid cargo. Unfortunately, the weak controls at ports in our Family Islands and at Potter’s Cay, a major domestic port, support the criminal element.”

Mr Sands was backed by Michael Maura, APD’s chief executive, who reiterated: “Another area which continues to pose a threat to both APD and society as a whole is the continued circumvention of the Nassau Container Port by persons who smuggle cargo through Family Island ports and across Potter’s Cay.

“This practice serves to avoid the appropriate import taxes and/or pass through contraband, such as guns and ammunition, through a port facility which does not have the necessary controls to address this threat.

“From an import tax perspective, both the Public Treasury and APD lose revenue when goods ultimately destined for Nassau are cleared in a Family Island such as Bimini,” Mr Maura added.

“Customs entries are submitted that describe an ocean freight rate reflecting a 60-mile transit and not the actual 190-mile voyage from point or origin to Nassau as a destination.”

APD executives issued similar warnings in the organisation’s 2014 report, and Mr Sands said it would continue to lobby the Government and relevant security organisations to address this issue.

“Our shareholders, port partners and the general public may be assured that we stand ready and equipped to effect answering strategies where we can, and we continue to lobby the decision-makers in those instances where the necessary actions lie within the authority of others,” he added.