The Tribune

The Nassau Container Port’s operator yesterday said its first-ever Maritime Festival was “a phenomenal experience” that exposed Bahamians to the full breadth of the maritime industry.

The weekend festival marked BISX-listed Arawak Port Development Company’s (APD) 10th anniversary. The day-long event attracted thousands of attendees, and featured exhibits and demonstrations by various maritime stakeholders.

Mike Maura, APD’s president and chief executive, said: “Throughout the day I’ve had the opportunity to talk with people about their experience here. And even folks who work at APD every single day have said that they haven’t realised how interconnected our maritime industry is, and how we all have to come together every single day to make things work efficiently, safely and in the right way at the Nassau Container Port.

“So it’s been a phenomenal experience for everyone that has participated. And I’m so excited and so thrilled. The festival has actually exceeded our expectations.”

Mr Maura added that it was important to showcase APD’s maritime partners because a commercial port operation such as itself represents an interdependent maritime and trade community. APD’s decade-long success has been “greatly dependent” on partnerships with agencies such as Bahamas Customs, the Department of Environmental Health, Department of Agriculture, national security agencies, various shipping companies, stevedoring companies, the trucking community and terminal operators - many of whom were present at the festival.

Festival attendees went on bus tours of the Nassau Container Port and toured vessels of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s Marine Unit. They were able to climb on board a helicopter, thanks to the US Coast Guard and OPBAT, and watch as it took off later in the afternoon.

Mr Maura said: “We had so many young Bahamian boys and girls that came out. Whether they were boarding a Royal Bahamas Defence Force vessel or sitting in the pilot seat of a US Coast Guard chopper that goes up and down our Bahamas every single day, or boarding a Royal Bahamas Police Force vessel, the fact is we were probably planting a little seed in each of them that asks the question: ‘Is maritime for me?’ That is so exciting to me. And I know that we have some pilots - both marine and air pilots - on the horizon.”