NASSAU, Bahamas, February 23, 2024 — Grand Bahama Shipyard is aiming to more than triple its annual turnover to $250m within five years, its top financial executive asserting yesterday: “This is not wishful thinking, “The Tribune reported today in an article written by Business Editor Neil Hartnell.
Linda Turnquest, its chief financial officer, told the Grand Bahama Business Outlook that the company’s $600m investment in two new docks has left it “poised to revolutionise the landscape of ship repair” and exploit a market that is “not only stable but thriving”.
Disclosing that the Freeport-based ship repair yard has only “a mere 90 days of” repair dock space to sell in 2024, she added that for “2025 and beyond our dock is already booked solid with firm reservations stretched out to 2029” by the cruise lines and other vessel types. And the Shipyard already has more cruise vessels booked for 2026 than the 21 it handled during its previous busiest year of 2018.
The first of the two new docks, which are being manufactured in China, is set to arrive at the Shipyard in the 2025 fourth quarter and receive its first vessel on New Year’s day 2026, Ms Turnquest told the conference.
And the second, larger “mega dock” facility that is capable of accommodating the Icon of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship, will be received in the 2026 third quarter and go into service before that year’s end as the Shipyard moves to reward its shareholders for their confidence in its future prospects.
“Our shareholders’ investment of $600m underscores their confidence in the future of our Yard,” Ms Turnquest said, “but let me be clear. It’s not a donation. It’s an investment we are committed to repaying through hard work, innovation and strategic vision.
“We project that our $80m turnover today will grow to $250m within the next five years. This growth is not wishful thinking. It is grounded in the reality of an expanding cruise ship industry demand and the increased demand for LNG (liquefied natural gas) tanker dockings and repairs.
“More so, our reputation as being the most efficient ship yard in the Caribbean and on the US eastern seaboard positions us as a prime destination for ship repair and maintenance. The market is not only stable but it is thriving. In 2024, we find ourselves with a mere 90 days of repairs to sell,” she continued, “a testament to the incredible demand for our services.
“Looking ahead to 2025 and beyond, our dock is already booked solid with firm reservations stretching out to 2029.” And while the previous annual record for cruise ships serviced was 21, Ms Turnquest said that “I can tell you by 2026 we currently have more than 21 named cruise ships scheduled for the docks that have not even arrived yet. I think we are world class even as we wait.
The Grand Bahama Shipyard’s shareholders are the world’s two largest cruise lines, Carnival and Royal Caribbean, each with 40 percent equity ownership, while the Grand Bahama Port Authority’s (GBPA) Port Group Ltd affiliate owns the remaining 20 percent.
Ms Turnquest said the survival of a one-dock operation was extremely rare, which is what Grand Bahama Shipyard has been relegated to for the past four years after it lost two of its three docking facilities to a combination of Hurricane Dorian and an industrial accident on April 1 in that same year of 2019.
The loss of its then-biggest dock cut the Shipyard’s revenues by 50 percent, she said, adding: “Imagine this. In 2019, when we lost two-thirds of our assets and ended the year with a one-dock operation just like that. Generally, a one-dock operation doesn’t survive, and that’s where we are today with one dock operational.”
See complete article in The Tribune at http://www.tribune242.com/news/2024/feb/23/gb-shipyard-targets-tripling-revenue-250m-2029/
