The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) yesterday said it had reached agreement with the Government and key licensees on a deal to bring “ significant growth and job creation to Freeport”.

The Port Authority, in a statement responding to Justice Indra Charles’s ruling that the Government’s consultation process on the Hawksbill Creek Agreement reforms was “fundamentally flawed”, provided no details on what has actually been agreed.

“Notwithstanding our differences concerning the consultation process, in the full spirit of co-operation, the Government and the Port Authority and major licensees continued fruitful discussions for the implementation of arrangements to bring significant growth and job creation to the economy of Freeport,” the GBPA statement said.

“We are pleased that, prior to the delivery of this judgment, the Government, the Port Authority and other major stakeholders successfully concluded an agreement on the way forward.

“We are confident that the agreement that has been concluded will inure to the benefit of all licensees, and lead to the continued development of Freeport for the benefit of the entire island of Grand Bahama.”

The GBPA is likely to have left the details to be announced by the Prime Minister, its reference to ‘major stakeholders’ likely meaning Hutchison Whampoa and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC).

Mr Christie has been pushing hard over the past several weeks for the Government, together with the GBPA and two companies, to sign up to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the way forward for Freeport.

Few details on the MoU’s contents have been disclosed, but the suggestions have included an agreement for MSC, Hutchison or a combination of both to buy out the Hayward and St George families and acquire the GBPA.

Other topics will have included the proposed Phase V Container Port expansion, which is inextricably linked to Freeport’s expiring tax exemptions. Both MSC and Hutchison have made it clear that the expansion will not happen unless they have absolute certainty these will be renewed.

MSC’s possible use of Freeport as a home port for its cruise ships may also have been on the agenda, along with the acquisition of several of Hutchison Whampoa’s assets.

However, in the absence of any confirmed details, Tribune Business sources said some Freeport licensees were already expressing concerns yesterday whether the GBPA’s ownership had agreed a deal “behind our backs”.

They are also asking whether an agreement has been reached to amend the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, when such a move requires the approval of a majority 80 per cent of licensees.

Fred Smith QC, the Callenders & Co attorney and partner, who was one of those who brought the case, last night demanded that the Government release details of the agreement referred to by the GBPA.

In an e-mail to Loren Klein at the Attorney General’s Office, he noted how the Government had been “feverishly” working to stay Justice Charles’s judgment before even seeing the contents.

While this raises the question of whether the Government sought to delay to allow time for its negotiations, Mr Smith said: “It appears that neither the executive branch of government nor the Grand Bahama Port Authority have any respect for due process or administration of justice.

“Or, indeed, for the recent judgment of the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas...... The GBPA and the Government cannot arrive at agreements that affect Freeport without four-fifths of the licenses consenting.

“This is unbelievable to me. I continue to be bewildered by the machinations of the government and the GBPA.”

The GBPA press statement appears to have been a direct riposte to Tribune Business’s article on Justice Charles’s judgment, which said the ruling temporarily “derailed” the Prime Minister’s planned policy announcement on Freeport.

This is because Justice Charles “quashed” any Government decisions based on the report and recommendations from the Hawksbill Creek Review Committee’s consultation process, which she found was “fundamentally flawed” and “procedurally unfair”.

While it does not prevent the GBPA and the Government from concluding or negotiating an agreement, it appears to at least delay any action by the latter on its Committee’s findings, especially as the judge ordered the consultation to continue.

The GBPA release uses the same term, “derailing”, and almost appears to be an attempt to appease the Government over its support for the two Callenders & Co attorneys who brought the case before Justice Charles.

“The Grand Bahama Port Authority intervened in this action to ensure that the interests of all licensees were properly represented,” the statement said, “and because it had likewise earlier conveyed to the Hawksbill Creek Committee, on several occasions, fundamental concerns regarding their consultation exercise being undertaken without disclosure of the McKinsey report to the community.

“In our view, the judgment is a fair one having regard to the issues which were brought before the court, the evidence and the applicable legal principles, and will serve to helpfully inform future public consultation exercises.”

The GBPA then added: “The judgment does not have a derailing effect on the progressive dialogue and negotiations which ensued between the Government, the Port Authority and the relevant stakeholders of Freeport after the completion of the hearing before the Supreme Court.”

Some, though, are likely to question why the GBPA is seemingly running away so rapidly from a court action it supported.

Tribune Business reported on Friday that Mr Christie and his administration were likely to be especially annoyed that the Callenders & Co duo were supported in their action by the GBPA and its two owners, the Hayward and St George families.

One Freeport-based source, speaking to Tribune Business on condition of anonymity, suggested that the verdict was likely to harden the Government’s attitude towards the GBPA’s two shareholder families.