The Tribune

YOU would be forgiven if you were not comforted by the words of Renward Wells MP with regard to cruise ships.

The Transport Minister gave his response to the US Coast Guard’s bulletin stating that foreign-flagged vessels – such as cruise ships with Bahamian registration – should seek help from the countries whose flags they fly.

Obviously, this would be quite a problem for us if even one ship experienced a significant number of sick passengers or crew – and the scale of that emergency only gets greater for every further ship involved.

When the Braemar headed towards The Bahamas with several sick passengers on board in the middle of last month, the refusal was unequivocal.

First the Ministry of Transport put out a statement saying the Braemar would not be permitted to dock. Then the Prime Minister himself, Dr Hubert Minnis, weighed in, saying “we are a small country. We believe that the ship should call on a port which has the capacity to deal with the Braemar”.

The country has grown no larger since that moment, so surely Mr Wells is as full-throated in saying no to who knows how many cruise ships now?

Not so. Instead, he cherry picks his words in his latest statement, full of terms about working closely and devising safe methods of resupply, or providing places of shelter “under carefully controlled conditions”.

“What we have not been able to do,” he adds, “is take people from the ships ashore in our population centres.”

So what’s the alternative? Are we going to have a series of cruise ships parked offshore with sick people on board, desperately in need of doctors and ventilators that we may not be able to provide?

Are we going to watch while people die on board ships we won’t let land?

At the end of all this, the whole process of ship registry is going to be in desperate need of an overhaul – the race to be the cheapest place to offer registration provides neither substantial income for the country or the funds to be able to support ships in a situation like this.

That, however, is a battle for tomorrow. Today we must battle to ensure that any sick passengers or crew on board those ships are not just abandoned in our waters. These are people of many nationalities – American, Canadian, British, other European nations, from Asia and more. Are those nations really going to abandon their nationals here?

Our government should use every piece of political capital it has to reiterate to those countries that their people need a greater quantity of facilities than our country has to offer.

We are preparing very hard to deal with a more widespread outbreak than we have at present. Every death is a tragedy, and taking on ill patients from other countries because the ports the ships set sail from won’t let them back in is a sure way of overwhelming the healthcare system we have.

Saying no to these ships is not an act of unkindness, but a battle to ensure they get the healthcare they need. We want any sick people on board these ships to live – and for that they need more than we can offer.

Mr Wells’ statement is not strong enough in any way, shape or form – and it’s time for the government to be stronger.

Shelling out more for eggs

How many eggs did you eat last week? How about the week before? Are you eating more eggs than normal?

Because all of a sudden the price of eggs has doubled. Supply and demand, they say. A surge in demand for eggs has meant the supply has run short so the price has gone up.

But how can that be? Are we really, even while in isolation, suddenly eating many more eggs? Even taking into account the vast amount of food no longer being prepared in hotels and resorts?

Apparently, it’s all down to demand in the US, with people cleaning out the stores of eggs. Now when Bahamian buyers go to their US suppliers, up goes the price. The same number of people are likely going to be eating the same number of eggs, just they’ll have their fridges stacked with more than they need and so the rest run short.

Which came first, the panic buying or the price rise? At least that one’s easier to answer than the chicken or the egg.