New Cruise Port Coming to The Bahamas? What We Kno...

Cruise strains are all the time in search of new locations to supply their passengers, and the newest information out of The Bahamas might result in a brand-new port of name on the itinerary sooner or later.

The Bahamian authorities has formally moved ahead with a growth venture for the distant island of Mayaguana, the nation’s easternmost island.

For a spot that has remained virtually untouched by main tourism for years, this newest information might put the island on each cruise traveler’s radar, regardless that cruises to Turks and Caicos commonly move proper by the 110 sq. mile island.

Mayaguana is about 66 miles west of Turks and Caicos.

The Challenge

In line with a press release from the Workplace of the Prime Minister of The Bahamas, the event, often called “The Port at Mayaguana,” is a Public-Non-public Partnership. 

It’s objective to show this remoted island right into a strategic crossroads.

The assertion mentions that the venture is a “main maritime and logistics venture meant to strengthen financial exercise in Mayaguana and throughout the South East Bahamas.”

As a result of it sits proper on the sting of the archipelago, it’s very well positioned for each cargo ships and cruise ships.

A Phased Plan for the Island

Since Mayaguana at present has little or no infrastructure and solely about 300 residents, the builders are taking a phased strategy.

The federal government said that this association “positions Mayaguana to play a stronger position in regional commerce, cruise exercise, and associated companies.”

They aren’t dropping hundreds of cruise vacationers off on day one.  The plan is split into three distinct phases to make sure the island can deal with the expansion:

• Part 1: Building of a “Short-term Marine Offloading Facility” and a deep water port.
• Part 2: The development of a devoted cruise ship terminal.
• Part 3: Enlargement right into a deep water port and terminal for bigger vessels.

This timeline permits the island to improve its energy, water, and housing to help the “roughly 2,000 full time jobs” the venture workforce anticipates over the lifetime of the venture.

Why Cruise Strains are Eyeing This Space

For cruise strains, Mayaguana’s location is its greatest promoting level. Since it’s the easternmost level of the Bahamas, many ships touring to the Southern Caribbean or the Panama Canal already sail proper previous it.

The Prime Minister’s workplace famous that the island’s location “locations the island at a crossroads between the Americas and Europe.”  That is helpful for each the cruise business and transport business alike.

Mayaguana additionally affords one thing that widespread ports of name like Nassau merely can’t. As the larger ports change into extra crowded, having a cease on an island identified for distant and secluded seashores and pristine reefs provides cruise strains a novel expertise to promote to their passengers.

However in fact, for the brand new port to stay “off the crushed path” it additionally has to restrict the variety of guests in any given time interval.  It’s the cautious steadiness each small cruise port has to take into accounts.

The venture is now shifting into the planning phases, together with “financial and environmental assessments, stakeholder engagement, regulatory approvals, and detailed designs.”

It will likely be just a few years earlier than we see the primary cruise ships docking on the new location if every part goes in response to plan, however the transformation of probably the most distant island within the Bahamas is formally underway.