Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
■ Grand Bahama shipyard reopens to inject life into Hurricane Dorian recovery.
A large shipyard on Grand Bahama has reopened two weeks after Hurricane Dorian’s devastation, helping to revive business on the stormdamaged island. There is enough work through the end of the year for more than 600 employees who repair cruise and cargo ships.
Grand Bahama Shipyard, which is jointly owned by Carnival Corp., Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., and Grand Bahama Port Authority, welcomed its first customer back to its dry docks this week — the 57,000-ton Greece-based freighter Agathonissos — to complete repair work that began before the hurricane’s arrival.
“It was extremely important to get up and running as quickly as possible and begin taking in vessels to help support the employees and families at the shipyard,” said David Skentelbery, the shipyard’s CEO.
Besides reopening for business to its maritime customers, the yard figures to be an important source of economic and day-today support for the island, which lacks basic necessities such as food, water and electricity.
The port at Grand Bahama is operational as well. But vessels are only dropping off supplies, relief workers and medical professionals. Vacationers cannot yet get off at the port.
The shipyard expects to accept another 29 vessels for repairs and maintenance through the end of the year, Skentelbery said. Other than some beach erosion, he said the yard suffered “no significant damage” from the storm. and is generating power on its own to operate docks, workshops, administrative functions and communications. The yard also is producing fresh water and its cafeteria is “feeding meals to hundreds of workers daily.”
There was no immediate word, however, about how many workers have returned to the yard after the storm destroyed countless homes and heavily damaged roadways on the island.
Collectively, cruise line operators and other maritime interests that have profited for years from their use of the Bahamian islands have stepped into the breach to provide millions of dollars of humanitarian aid and other assistance to victims of Dorian.
From the Port of Palm Beach, Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line sent its Grand Celebration ship loaded with doctors and nurses to Grand Bahama. The vessel returned to South Florida packed with hundreds of storm victims. A second mission — also carrying medical specialists, first responders and volunteers — was scheduled to leave for Grand Bahama on Friday evening but was postponed due to inclement weather and will be rescheduled.
Carnival’s ships are continuing to move supplies, but not passengers, into Freeport. The company also said it is helping to restore the operations of a local hospital. A Carnival philanthropic foundation has committed up to $1 million for relief aid, a figure matched by a foundation overseen by chairman Micky Arison and his wife.
Separately, Carnival has reaffirmed its commitment to the Bahamian government that the Miami-based company will follow through on plans to build a $100 million port for its Carnival Cruise Line ships on Grand Bahama.
It also intends to add a pier on the island of Little San Salvador, home of the Half Moon Cay port, which is owned by Carnival’s Holland American Line subsidiary.
According to its website, Royal Caribbean, also based in Miami, has evacuated storm survivors to Nassau aboard its ships. Among other things, it committed $1 million to disaster relief, is providing 20,000 meals a day and donated 150,000 bottles of water as of earlier this week. The company says it employs 500 people between the Grand Bahama Shipyard and a Bahamian island attraction it operates.
MSC Group, the Genevabased parent of MSC Cruises in Fort Lauderdale, dispatched top executives to Nassau to meet with Prime Minister Hubert Alexander Minnis, according to a statement. The company said it is exploring ways that its cruise line, cargo shipping unit and charitable foundation could contribute to the relief effort.
The company said it will focus on providing semipermanent prefabricated modular housing for populations of the areas most affected by the storm. It is also making cargo ships available for moving relief items from the U.S. to Freeport and Marsh Harbour.